Israel Adesanya seems to be unimpressed and uninterested in Alex Pereira’s light heavyweight title shot offer. Pereira recently won the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round knockout win over former champion, Jiri Prochazka, at UFC 295. Following his win, Pereira used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to challenge Adesanya, urging him to move up to 205 pounds.
In his challenge, Pereira displayed confidence and reminded Adesanya of their shared history. “I know that I’m not going to do what he did to me and make me fight three times to fight him at middleweight,” Pereira claimed. He ended his call out by saying, “I know it’s a guy we have a lot of history. I want to make this fight happen. Adesanya, come to daddy.”
Adesanya’s response was dismissive, posting a meme of his UFC 287 knockout win over Pereira, with the Brazilian styled as Elsa from Disney’s Frozen with the caption, “Let it gooo.” This response comes after Adesanya’s shocking loss of his middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September. Following this upset, Adesanya has announced his plans to take a long hiatus from the sport, even suggesting 2027 as his potential return year.
Pereira expressed dismay at Adesanya’s decision, labelling it a “waste of talent.” Despite this criticism, Adesanya doesn’t seem to be tempted by the offer of a light heavyweight title shot. In fact, he speculated that former light heavyweight champion, Jamahal Hill, is more likely to be Pereira’s next opponent. Adesanya commented on his YouTube channel, “The fact that it sits with him, it hurts his spirit, I like it. But I know for a fact it hurts his spirit, which I like. ‘Come to daddy’. That’s what he said, last time I checked, he was knocked out.”