Israel Adesanya wants middleweight contenders to thank him for removing Alex Pereira

• UFC

After facing a tough knockout loss against Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira made a jump to the light heavyweight division. Pereira's debut was successful as he outplayed Jan Blachowicz in a three-round clash. Pereira will face Jiri Prochazka in less than 48 hours, and the winner of the fight will be the new UFC light heavyweight champion of the world.

The former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya wants all middleweight contenders to be grateful, as Adesanya believes he removed Alex Pereira out of the middleweight division. That is not entirely true; Alex Pereira moved up because it is closer to his natural weight.

It will be interesting to see when Israel Adesanya makes a return; he confirmed that he will be on a long break. As for now, only time can tell when Adesanya will make a return.

Israel Adesanya on Alex Pereira

In a recent YouTube video, Israel Adesanya explained why middleweight contenders should thank him and predicted the outcome of Pereira vs Prochazka.

"These middleweights can get on their knees and thank me 'cause I got this man out of there. If not, you would have to deal with him over and over and over again, all of you," Adesanya said, as quoted by mmafighting.com. "I doubt any of you would want to fight this guy.

Adesanya predicts Pereira vs Prochazka: I did four times but I got it done just with one.I like this fight because they're both very unorthodox in their approach, their fighting style, the way Pereira leg kicks, the way Jiri likes to own the space and throw combos.

Even like his potshots, the way he moves. His movement is crazy. Like it's just very unorthodox. I'm going with Jiri. No [it doesn't go the distance]. Five rounds, I don't think so. Not with this one. Not at light heavyweight. It doesn't go the distance".