Israel Adesanya on Alex Pereira: Without me, he would have been exposed

• UFC

Israel Adesanya is ready for the match against Alex Pereira. Israel wants to prove to everyone why it has been at the top for so long and his goal is to 'destroy' its opponent. “It is [business], but it’s personal,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour.

“This is about me and my legacy. This is about rewriting history. Even though it is history and I never chased this, this is about me rewriting a new path of history and just showing people what I can really do because, again, y’all must’ve forgot.

They forget, they always forget. It’s because of this Tik Tok era, the attention span is so quick, they move on so fast. “So this is personal. For me, I’ve said less, he can do all the tennis ball videos and f****** hoverboard things he wants, but for me I’m just like, ‘Cool.

You do you.’ He has bragging rights, so let him do that, but when it’s time I know something he doesn’t. I can’t tell you”. Adesanya made an interesting comment about the match between him and the Brazilian.

“Without me, he wouldn’t be here,” Adesanya said. “Without me, he would have been exposed a long time ago. Without me—I cleared the way. I cleared the division first of all so there’s not really anyone else to fight.

I cleared the way for him to get to the top”.

Israel Adesanya: I'm winning in life

Adesanya is happy with his career and the successes he has achieved so far. “I’m winning. I’m winning in life. I’m doing much better than he is and he’s building everything off me, which, if he’s ‘punching down’ what a height he’s punching at because I’m up, way up.

Way up”. He commented on the mistakes he made in the second match against his opponent. “I didn’t stay true to my style,” Adesanya said. “I was younger and I just let myself get influenced by outside noises and I didn’t stay true to my style.

I know me. When I hurt someone—even [my brother] David was saying, ‘You know how to break people down’ and when I’m watching fights I’m like, ‘Why are you headhunting? Why are you headhunting?’ I was headhunting, I was only using my right hand, that’s the stupidest thing I could have done. So I didn’t stay true to my style and it cost me. That bothered me way more than a knockout”.