Alex Pereira answers Adesanya: "I can lose this fight and that makes me stronger"
Pereira has said he would drop to light heavyweight if he loses to Sergei Pavlovich on 12 December. Adesanya has questioned that plan.
Alex Pereira has answered Israel Adesanya's criticism of his plan to move down to light heavyweight if he loses to Sergei Pavlovich, saying it is the mindset he has always had.
At the UFC 335 and UFC 336 press conference in New York on Friday 13 November, a reporter told Pereira that Adesanya had said "maybe that is a losing mentality", and that a fighter should never begin by saying what he will do if he loses.
Pereira said: "Those who are around me, they know that is the mentality I've always had all my fights." He added: "I've always thought I can lose this fight and that makes me stronger, and that's how I've gone about it forever."
Pereira has said he would return to light heavyweight, straight into a title fight, if he loses to Pavlovich in the UFC 335 co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 12 December. Adesanya questioned that plan on the Precision podcast in October, saying: "I don't know why he's taking this fight."
Adesanya, who knocked Pereira out in their rematch, faces Shara Magomedov in the UFC Saudi Arabia main event in Riyadh on 5 December, a week before Pereira's fight.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.