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Alex Pereira has claimed that Israel Adesanya is ‘mentally shocked’ ahead of the pair’s main event at UFC 281 this weekend.
Pereira will challenge Adesanya for the middleweight title in New York City on Saturday, entering Madison Square Garden. Pereira has since compiled a 6-1 mixed martial arts record, with five knockouts to his name, while Adesanya is 23-1 in MMA, his only loss having come while challenging for light heavyweight gold last year.
Speaking on The MMA Hour on Monday, Brazilian Pereira said: “He doesn’t want this fight. His team doesn’t want it. People close to him don’t want it, because they know the risk.
“Right after I got in the UFC, he said he would like to fight me maybe after four fights but ‘calm down’. He wanted to fight me, but only after I did four fights. Why? He had in his mind I could lose to someone and he would say: ‘Is that the guy you want me to fight?’ I never believed that, but some people did. Others realise now he was bluffing.
