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| Image: Clutch Points |
After knocking Alex Pereira out on early Sunday morning, Israel Adesanya celebrated the victory widely, and some of his celebrations didn’t go down well with some fans on social media. The fans were divided, though; some said it was a case of ‘what goes around comes around’, while others said it was an over-the-top celebration.
The celebration in question was the moment Adesanya mocked Alex Pereira’s 12-year-old son after delivering the sucker punch that landed Alex on the canvas. After Alex hit the floor, just before his heartfelt post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Adesanya pointed to someone in the crowd before mockingly falling to the floor and playing dead.
According to the Mirror, the Nigerian fighter was looking at Pereira’s 12-year-old son, who made the same gesture after their second kickboxing fights seven years prior, in which the Brazilian won by knockout.
However, the former champion has taken a magnanimous approach, telling fans in a YouTube video: “I don’t know I wouldn’t do the same. I can play with him, I’ve always played with him and teased him. It was something that happened. But I don’t know, it’s another child because I don’t know what his feeling was.
“I don’t know, it is seven years ago, he was enduring it, and I saw his joy that he had after the knockout because this was his dream. That was his dream, and he made it, but we’re comparing him [his son] with a child who was five years old at the time, right? I don’t have that mind.
“I can provide it because today he is 12 years old, and before the fight, I saw that he was being influenced by other people. Sometimes even in some interviews and some reporters said, ‘You’re going to do this?’ He said, ‘I’m going to do it again,’ and so on, and he laughed.”
Adesanya was not particularly apologetic after the victory, telling media members that he wanted to teach the 12-year-old a lesson and calling him an “a**hole”.
“I’m petty, bro,” Adesanya admitted during an emotional press conference, admitting that the gesture had played on his mind. “I remember the first time he knocked me out in Brazil; his son came into the ring and started to get next to me. I’m like, ‘you f***ing little a**hole, I’ll whoop your a** if your dad won’t do it for you.
“I looked for his kid, and I pointed at him, and I saw him. I was like, ‘hey, hey hey,’ just to remind him. I saw him [Pereira] backstage, and we’re cool. He’s a great champion, he’s a warrior, and his story – I mean that. I’m the antagonist in his story; he’s a f***ing beast coming from where he’s come from and the adversity he’s faced in his life to get to where he is.”
See the video below:
Source: opinionnigeria.com
#Israel Adesanya
#Alex Periera
#Alex Pereira’s son
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