MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Israel Adesanya Ready for Alex Pereira With 'War' Mentality | Morning Kombat Interview

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

Luke Thomas Sits down with UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya ahead of his UFC 281 fight with Alex Pereira. How has his life changed over the past few years? How much is Izzy looking at their first two kickboxing matches? How has his style evolved since their kickboxing match? You don't want to miss this one! (1:00) - UFC 281 Housing  (4:30) - New Zealand (11:30) - Alex Pereira  (17:00) - Israel's Fighting Style (20:00) - Mental Health Work (22:20) - Alex Pereira's Trash Talk (26:35) - Alex Pereira's Gas Tank  (30:15) - Middleweight Division Catching up? (31:50) - Injuries  (33:40) - Who is Izzy Fighting for?  (35:50) - Rest of Middleweight Division (39:15) - MMA Community (42:50) - Izzy's Youtube Channel  (44:30) - MMA Media Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In just a matter of days, one of the most highly anticipated middleweight title fights for the UFC takes place when champion Israel Adesanya takes on Alex Pereira in the main event for all the bragging rights, for the belt, and for a whole lot more. And here to talk about it is my next guest, the champ himself. Here he is. How are you? Very well, my man. Good to see you. Haven't seen you in a long time.

It's been a while, it's been a while. I think last time I was in New York in the old studio. Yep. Yeah. Well, I also saw you after you beat Brunson at the press. Oh yeah, yeah, of course, yeah. I meant like this.

I've just gotten grayer and more pathetic. You look even better. So you had your kid as well, three, I remember she was pregnant at the time. Yes, yes, and now she's a wonderful kid, but I'm tired as fuck. That's where the grace comes from. Yeah.

I'm really old. How are you feeling now? You've done the New York thing, but you're not in New York City. We're outside of it. How has this whole environment been? Beautiful. If you look outside, it's just fall season. The leaves are falling.

You see deer and wildlife everywhere. But it's just a vibe. Because I remember 2. 30 was cool to be at the fighter hotel in the midst of everything I've experienced that now so I feel like I'm on a new level where I don't need to be in the noise of the city so I'd rather remove myself from all that and you know enjoy the bliss of nature any issues like given the travel with the weight cut easy oh you can't actually join my weights phenomenal right now like i had a schedule but you look bigger than i remember you so you saw me when i came downstairs before when i just woke up yeah and i'm i'm

cutting weight and you say i look bigger yeah trust me like before i started cutting weight i was brolic man is it a conscious effort to bulk? My boy, Abiola, AB from Base Benefit, I got him to, even when I went to Canada when I was on holiday, you know,

I brought him along just so he could keep training because I wanted to build the building blocks for this camp. I knew what was coming so I was like, I need to be stronger.

I need to be, I'm already strong. Everyone that I fight, you can ask them or Bronson, Whitaker, whoever, they'll tell you, oh, he's stronger than he looks. It's the frame, I'm already strong. Everyone that I fight, you can ask them on Brunson, Whitaker, whoever, they'll tell you, oh, he's stronger than he looks. It's the frame, it's the leverage. But yeah, for this camp, I wanted to take it to another level and I did. I successfully did, or he did actually. So shout out to AB for that. And bringing the whole team here, how many

people do you have with you here? In this house, I think 26, 25. How many, Tim? More up, more off. Well, we got the second wave yesterday, actually. The second platoon, if you will. So maybe like over 30 now. Why'd you do it this way? Because obviously there's four of you on the card, but this is its own little city here. It's a little New Zealand in here, a little Auckland. With the flag and everything.

Yeah, why did you do it this way? I mean, I guess getting away from the city, but I mean, you brought New Zealand here, essentially. Pretty much. Initially, when it was just me on the card, I was like, okay, it's going to be maybe less than 10 people. For me, I wanted it to be soldiers only. That's been my motto for this fight, soldiers only.

And then Dan go add it to the card, Brad go add it got added, Carlos got added and I was like, hmm, okay, let me just bring the people who really help us in the gym. There's a lot more people as well, so shout out to those who really help us in the gym. We love you, our 9 a.m. squad. But I wanted to bring as much bodies as I can just to really make this like a fortress of war. You know what I mean? You see, tomorrow when we roll to the city, it's going to be something special. I've never had, like, a mob before when I roll.

We don't need one. But I like the fact that there's four of us on this card, and I wanted it to feel like war. I wanted it to feel like, initially, when it was just me, like the way me and Eugene went to Brazil to storm that guy's castle, you know, and then come back with a lot of money. But, yeah, I wanted it to feel like a fortress of war this time. What's the vibe in the house like? Beautiful. It's beautiful. It's, um, I

started doing this in Houston, I believe for the, um, Vittori part two fight. And then after that, then we're in, um, uh, what was the last one? Fuck. It's so many Vegas. Yeah. Vegas, the last one. And then now this one. So I just realized I don't like staying at the Fido Hotel. You get mobbed now? Yeah. Yeah. And I know what they do. They see, they know their tricks, and I see them with their kids, because they know I wouldn't say no to kids, and they bring gifts, and I'm like, I already have that one, because

someone gave me a gift once on a bed, so they think that's how you get to me. I know what they do with these things. No one needs 20 signed fucking posters of me so I know the hustle what is life like for you now in New Zealand in New Zealand um you can go about your day normally honestly I can and I still do but when I go to events or if I go like out I definitely have my my you know my watches with me just cuz people and sometimes it's you know New Zealand some with me. Just because people, and sometimes it's, you know, in New Zealand, some people think, oh, it's overkill.

Like, this guy just thinks he's the man. But, and I feel that a little bit in the beginning. But as soon as I'm out, I'm quickly reminded why I need my security with me. Like, quickly reminded. Because if I don't have them, I won't enjoy what I'm doing. I want to enjoy my drinks with my friends. I want to enjoy my dinners. And it's because people are stupid.

And they have no manners and respect when they see someone they think is a celebrity, which I'm not. But, yeah, it's all good, though. You're not a celebrity? I don't like to use that term with myself because I feel like I actually do something to earn my status. I'm a fighter, and I'm just famous for it. It's a celebrated figure. You wouldn't say you're a celebrated figure? Yeah, I could say that, yeah.

But the word celebrity... Celebrity is like just Hollywood. I'm a little Hollywood now, but not crazy. I try and remove myself from that world right now. But later on, I'll tap in. I want to talk about New Zealand for just a second. For a reason that during the pandemic... I just i want to say first of all i thank you i like these interviews i've missed these yeah dude i'm sorry i would i would love to do more but it's been a

weird time since i know yes my job changed on the pandemic oh no but this is cool yeah yeah the chess pieces are a little dramatic i love it by the way the production crew did it it wasn't me or is it the production crew did it uh but let't me or Izzy. The production crew did it. It makes sense. But let's talk about New Zealand for just a second. Because during that time, there was this situation you had with the gym where you guys were trying to get in. The COVID system that they had there, I forget the name of it, it no longer is in place. MIQ. MIQ. It's no longer in place, so it's not really all that relevant.

I wonder why. Well, it was funny. Actually, the All Blacks played in D.C. and there were Kiwi fans there saying, get rid of the MIQ system because we want to go home. So I could tell that it was rubbing some people the wrong way. I had some horror stories. I've heard some horror stories, man.

Quick one, when I was in my third MIQ, I did four of them, so that's two weeks isolated in a hotel. When I was in my third one, there was a woman with a kid with I think cerebral palsy, a teenager on a wheelchair. And there was a woman with a kid with, I think, cerebral palsy, a teenager on a wheelchair. And there was one time her kid had a seizure in the smoking area, not in the smoking area, in the outdoor area.

And one of the guards helped the kid or helped the mother. He got put in quarantine for two days for helping because he didn't have what? His full hazmat fucking kid on. So I'm like, a kid's having a seizure, a mother's distressed, crying. Give me a second, I'm just gonna go. Sorry, two seconds. Just hold on, hang on, hang on. For me, I'm like, is that really

the right thing to do? It felt more like a punishment because he didn't follow protocol rather than some kind of precaution for safety. That was the one that really bothered me. And talking to her as well, I could see what was getting to her and the kid,

because trying to have a teenager, you know, entertained in a hotel room for two weeks, yeah, it was horrible. I can imagine. That's one of the horror stories. I don't want to... I've heard some other ones that weren't so great, but I guess it kind of soured you a little bit

because the All Blacks, the rugby team aforementioned, they were able to get these exemptions to come in and out just damn even the indian cricket team got like i think 70 rooms something crazy they had their own area to train uh the netball team because all backs are the most famous so they always get put on the spotlight but it wasn't just them and it wasn't their fault because i like those guys shout out to richie manga my boys um but um yeah it's just the the the bureaucrats in the system finally showed their true colors. They showed their true colors of who they are. Like when we're on top and we're, you know, number one gym in the world, they want to be like, yeah, we're all Kiwis. Yeah, we support

these guys. We've never been government funded. They've never offered us anything. We did this all ourselves off our own backs with the support of the people around us, core people around us. But then when it was time to turn around and bite us and try and shut us down, they did. Shut down our gym, which I trained for Costa. Excuse me. Excuse me. Standard. I've got to tell you, I've interviewed you several times.

You always get one burp with Izzy. It happens. But yeah, so Costa, we had a training camp in the gym, our own bubble. That was fine. And then when it was time for the next dance fight, camp in the gym, our own bubble. That was fine. And then when it was time for the next dance fight, they moved the goalposts, literally. And I was like, we've done this before. And you're letting these other teams have their own facility to train in.

Why are you doing this to us? And for me, I had a built-in excuse. I know they don't like me. They don't like the way I'm braggadocious sometimes, the way I speak my mind. But when they did this to Dan, I'm like, bro, this guy literally wears the flag on his back as he walks out. He puts the country on the fucking map. He's one of the first to pave the way for guys like me, you know, like a Kiwi-born guy in the UFC. And this is how you treat him.

This is how you, and that really, like, that really caught me, man. That really bothered me, really bothered me. So for me, and still to this day. He's got kids too, correct? Yeah, he's that really caught me, man. That really bothered me. Really bothered me. So for me, I was, and still to this day. He's got kids too, correct? Yeah, he's got a kid and a wife. And I'm like, bro, you guys are camping your journey. Like, do you have better shit to do than camp outside his gym to take photos, to write salacious articles? So for me, I'm like, nah, fuck that.

You guys, they struck me wrong with that one. And they don't need me. They've got yachting and rugby, cricket, whatever. But I'm like, you'll never see millions of dollars coming to the economy from my work. I'd rather give that to Australia. What kind of response did you get in New Zealand when you declared that that was a thing you were never going to do?

Eugene wasn't too happy about it because he said, look, you're making other people suffer. You're making the true fans suffer, the ones who never get the opportunity to see you. I'm like, I can see where it's coming from. So he had a word to me about it. And I was like, I could be persuaded. But for me, and I know these guys will never apologize.

They'll never own up to what they did. You know, the prime minister will never, even her, when she got asked about it. And we read body language. Involuntary body response, she went, well, I actually, I was just like, you sly little minks. Like, the face, the face they put on to what they really mean. So she let us know what she thought of us. And for me, I just felt like, yeah, that's cool. You stay on that side.

We'll stay on this side. Yeah. But we do this for the people who really care about us. I was going to say, you have the flag here. You've been talking about NZ this whole week. Fuck those cunts. So it seems like you are still representing New Zealand, but not through the government in any kind of capacity. Nah, hell no.

It's not those guys we're representing. We're representing the people. The people who really support us. The people who, you know, pay to watch our fights. The people who've been coming to the local shows. The people who really give a fuck about what we're doing to represent the country. Because we're honestly like some of the best athletes in the world, some of the best athletes in the country. I still maintain, you know, I'm bigger than the All Blacks

worldwide, not in New Zealand, before you start click baiting me, Harold. Fucking little cunts. But yeah, worldwide, I walk around the street, people know who I am. So yeah, I'm not local, I'm global. And yeah, if you fuck with me, you fuck with me. All right, well let's talk about global.

Let's talk about Alex Pareda, all right? Now you you know me i don't come to these interviews to talk too much about headlines i like to talk about the fights themselves let's talk about everything all right very good um what are you up against in alex pareda when you size him up tell me what you feel like you're facing here that's a good question what do i feel like you're facing here. That's a good question. What do I feel like I'm facing? When I size him, I haven't seen him yet this fight week. I can't wait until I see him. When I size him up, a really good kickboxer with some good, I guess, grappling defense. Because I've seen in the Bruno Silva fight and his first UFC debut, he did the know, he did the right things that I do as well to get,

to get up and get back to the, to the game that he's good at. And lately just, he's getting confident. I'll say that he's getting confident. Yeah. You know, what's interesting is if you watch the, well, the second fight you had with him, people want to go back and make a lot of declarations about it. But, like, I got to tell you, he isn't the same guy, right? Like, he holds his hands in a very different position.

He was more here. Yes. But now he's here. He only goes back to here when you put it on him. His defense. He's got head movement, but once he gets tired, I can say it because I know he's going to gas. Once he gets tired, he reverts back to his way of doing things. But in the beginning, when he's fresh, he's here, you know, he has that bounce,

a little bit of a step, like a little hip feint type step thing. Not like mine, but he'll get you thinking about the legs, fast leg kicks, sneaky jab, good jab to the body, yeah. Switch the scissors knee, he likes that. Yeah, but I mean, come on, good jab to the body. Yeah. Switch the scissors knee. He likes that. Yeah, but I mean, come on, man. I see that shit coming from him. Watch his debut.

I called it probably like 10 seconds before it happened. I was like, watch this. He's going to get up now and then a knee right up the middle. Yeah, and then boom, he did it. So not in terms of what you take from it emotionally. I don't mean that. But in terms of what you can actually take strategically, in terms of what you can actually take from bits and pieces

that are relevant to this contest, to what extent are the first and second fights at all relevant for this one in your mind? At all relevant, are they relevant? In that particular context. Skills-wise, not emotional-wise, skills-wise, a little bit, I don't bank too much on it, because we've both evolved.

We've both evolved. And also that was kickboxing. The gloves were different. My frame was different. I watched the- Much thinner. Yeah, I watched the first fight. I was hitting him with some shots and I'm like,

you know, he's eating them. He was eating them. Second fight, he didn't eat them so well. He almost got put away. It's different this time It's been five years bro Evolved and so is he but this is a different game. This is mixed martial arts The gloves are different Trust me people might say I don't have any power still because people are people and people are stupid

I crack him when I crack him this time is different and he's gonna try and crack me as well, but would I let him? That's the question. Will I let him crack me? How much of a difference is the fact that the octagon is vastly more spacious than four right angles, essentially? I didn't even think about that. I actually didn't factor that. They put me in the fucking kickboxing ring that was smaller than that side of the room. And I was still able to use footwork to get out of, you know, dodge multiple times.

Not just with him, multiple opponents as well. So, yeah, I have space now to work so I can run around. You know, it's funny. One time, you've been doing that all week, the run around bit. What is that about? Because you got accused of running in previous fights? Yeah, it's funny. I mean, people are stupid again.

People are stupid. It's a quote. I actually saved it. Einstein said this. Hold up. I saved it last night because I found it. This is fake news. Did you find this on the internet, Izzy? I swear to God. This is Einstein's. I've heard it before. Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe. That is funny. I was like, yeah, human stupidity. Because, yeah, it's so crazy. And people still say, you know, I think it's just, you know, people are stupid. And I've accepted that now. People are stupid. So I can't fight stupid. I'll come back to this. But I want to stick with Pereira for just a second. But the big

left hook is what he gets known for. Do you think this is an oversold weapon? Or like, in other words, when you think about his weapons, yes, of course, you have to worry about the left hook. But it sounds like you've got other things in mind that you're watching out for. Of course. He's got a nice, sneaky backhand. Like when he misses the left hook, pop. He throws because he doesn't overturn in the beginning when he's fresh. He throws the left hook.

His core is tough. It's tight. So he's able to come back with a backhand. Later on when it's labored, then he overthrows. And then he misses. But also his jab, he's got a sneaky jab. But the thing is, the guys have been fighting their shit footwork. They just stand right there.

They're right there in front of him to get hit. Even when you see the Bruno Silva fight, Bruno was literally just right there getting teed off on. So it looks cool. It looks like, oh, he's doing a lot of work. And he is. He is doing a lot of work, but he's doing it on someone who doesn't fight like me. I spoke to Ryan Hall. He's actually native to my area.

I know Ryan Hall. Yeah, on the way. Yeah. And I was asking him, like, since you got to MMA, he made a point about jiu-jitsu and, which was if you go to a Jiu Jitsu competition, the only way the other person can beat you is with Jiu Jitsu. But of course in MMA, they don't have any obligation to use it. You have to force it on them. And I asked him, did that make your Jiu Jitsu better?

He actually said, no, it made it worse. That he, it made it different. His pure Jiu Jitsu he's talking about. His pure Jiu Jitsu. It didn't make it as good anymore. It just made it different. How do you feel about your kickboxing since the five years or plus or whatever it's been at this point? Have you made it different, better, worse?

How do you feel about that shift? Honestly, I've said this from the get-go. Even when I was kickboxing, when I fought for the world title, I've always said my striking is best suited for MMA. I've always known this because MMA is what I wanted to do. I saw Anderson Silva at UFC 1990, and I was like, yo, when I saw him live, I can really do this. And I've always tried to do some things to model him and certain other guys as well, even like back then, like Tiago Alves, his leg kicks, things like that. But I always knew my striking was best suited for MMA because of the way I throw and because of my frame. A lot of these guys, they have that Dutch style or that, you know,

really hard fight fire with fire or fight earth with earth type style where it's who's the toughest. Ba-ba, I think, shell up. Ba-ba-ba, boom, boom, da-da-da. And I was like, nah, that's not my style to fight. And that's how he still kind of fights when he reverts back to his old ways. But, yeah, I've always maintained my striking is better with mma and i've proved it time and time again it's just that much better gabriel varga you were with him and glory at the same time uh name oh

yeah i remember him he's canadian he's a canadian guy he's much lower weight class than you i think we're on featherweight something like that yeah i remember him um he made a video about you guys by the way on the record he predicted you would win, for whatever that is worth. But he was talking about your style transitioning and his style transitioning. And again, he has made some changes. He's not exactly the same. But what he mentioned was that your evasion. He's low. He's low.

You know why? To stop the shot. Right. His hands are here. His hands are here, yeah. Yeah, he's going to stop the shot. That's why. But also, it's sneaky.

Yeah. But he made the point that your evasion style is actually better suited for MMA Do you agree with that? Do you agree that the evasion way you move that works much better in MMA than it does in kickboxing? Yes, 100% 100% kickboxing. I could get away with it But I just feel like we're MMA even with the gloves being so small It's I can feel I can feel where they go. Yes. It's a sense. It's a sense of something You can just understand your reflexes your eyes, you know I can feel where they're going. It's a sense. It's a sense of something.

You can just understand your reflexes, your eyes. But yeah, much better than MMA. And also, do you feel like combination work isn't as heavy in MMA? I don't do it as much. Last time I can feel like I threw was maybe a little bit on Kosta. Kosta, yeah. And Jan threw some nice combos on him. Everyone else just made it really difficult because, again, it takes two to tango.

And I'll take, I'm like, I'm trying to fight. If people are trying to fight, but then they want to defensively survive, that's up to them, you know. But it made it hard to, I guess, really pin them down. And I'm not really a combination guy anyway, unless I know I'm going to take you out. Then I start to run the numbers. Right. Is it weird talking about these fights all over again? Because you've had such a decorated career and you've been undefeated.

Certainly middleweight, there was the one Blahovich fight, but that was a close fight. But you have to go over these losses. I wonder, does that stir weird emotions? I've done so much emotional work on myself over the last, I think since COVID started. Because, you know, that was crazy times. Yeah. And, you know, I had some personal shit I had to deal with.

So I did a lot of work on myself internally to the point where, you know, I'm human. So there's levels of things that might affect me. But this is nothing. This is not in my, I have the bandwidth for this, put it that way. Did you see a therapist or a sports psychologist? Well, she doesn't like to call herself a therapist. She calls herself a PM, a possibility manager. And yeah, it was cool just to get a lot of tools,

a lot of tools from her that I can use in my life and perspective, perspective on myself and on the world around me as well. This is asking a lot. Yeah. But would you be able to share any one detail? The best one I got from her was don't react, respond. And I've seen that so many times, time and time and time again,

even in the news and us, a lot of things. Like, for example, the George Floyd thing, when it happened, it caused the whole world to react because what the fuck? You saw a video of a guy getting killed by a cop who's supposed to protect and serve. So it made me react. But then eventually now when I, you know, the BLM movement, not the movement, the company got started off that. But then eventually there's a point when I saw things happening that I was like,

okay, let me take a step back and have a look and let me see. So now whenever things happen in the news, I don't straight away go to Twitter or Instagram and, oh, let me do that, because people react. You'll see me. I'll take my time, and I'll assess how I feel about this, not what the world's trying to tell me to feel about this. How do I feel? And then eventually I'll respond.

I'll respond to what's happening. So same thing in my personal life. You see, Pereira, he's been doing it all week, or fucking all, not all week. Weeks he's been doing it, trying to, like... And I'm just like, well, he has bragging rights. He can talk shit. Let him talk shit. I'm not going to react. But I said, I will respond.

And I'll respond violently. Has he said anything weird? He said one thing in a... It was a Brazilian podcast, MMA Fighting. Tell me. Where he had... Actually, I have the quote, if I may. Let me pull this out.

I'll take your time. So this was like one of those ones where it's like, obviously, you know, fighters are going to say things to themselves to center themselves for any kind of opportunity. But here's what he wrote, or what he said. And this is translated into English. We'll take that for what it's worth. Quote, right after it was announced that my next fight would be for the belt against him, so I think this is post-Strickland, he and his whole team said it was a bit unfair that i was fighting for the belt because i just got here that uh uh adesanya excuse me i'm trying to get it right did so many fights and i should do the same

man i'm just hearing that and taking it as something positive for me that shows me he pretended he wanted to fight me and when i got here his whole team was against that that shows all of them he and his team are mentally shook never Never said that. I said he's the next. I mean, after the Strickland fight. I believe so. I already knew. I said he was next. And I said he still doesn't deserve. Deserve is a subjective word. People like to say deserve this. People deserve that. Fuck deserve. Did you earn? What have you done to earn this spot? I still don't think he's earned the spot enough, but I welcomed it because why? He's fresh at this. I want to welcome him and I want to expose him at this before everyone

else did. If he had the run I had, if he had to go through the people I went through, he would have got exposed three fights ago. Like two fights with Whitaker, two fights with Vittori. Not even before that. The run with, what's his name? Vittori early on. Tavares. Tavares. He would have got exposed. he would have beat some of those guys, definitely, but he would have got exposed along the way. But yeah, I never said I didn't want the fight.

I called him out. I said I want the fight. But I'm just saying that as it is, he doesn't earn the spot. Yeah, he hasn't earned it. If my math is correct, it'll be since he signed with UFC, at least since the first fight, it'll be 371 days. And then he got a title shot. So really, just a year and some change.

That is pretty quick I did it. How long did I do it? You fought a bunch of times though. Yeah, it wasn't a long time span But you were constantly five times in a year and a day and then I got my title shot Yeah, so it was 360 something. It'll be a little bit more than his but yeah Why had a more impressive run put it that way? It seems like obviously the UFC was like trying to fast-track it a little bit more than his, but yeah. But I had a more impressive run, put it that way. It seems like obviously the UFC was trying to fast track it a little bit. He did beat Sancho.

Also, I cleared the way for him because I cleared the division. So it was like a clear path right to me. So you've been eyeballing this fight for a while. Once he got in the UFC, I knew it was going to happen. As soon as he got in the UFC, I was like, all right, bet. I know this fight's going to happen. Now, before that, he wasn't in the UFC. He wasn't even on my radar.

Never watched. I only found out the other day that he was a two-weight world champion in kickboxing. I was like, oh, cool. You didn't know? Nah, I didn't know the UFC wasn't even on my radar never watched I only found out the other day that he was a two-way world champion in kickboxing I was like you didn't know nah I didn't know I didn't care I never followed his career but I bet you every fight I fought from my UFC debut he started posting that after my UFC debut he posted a knockout and then after my next fight he posted a knockout and I posted in my third fight in the UFC Tavares he posted it again trying to make fun of me and then people were like, dude, what are you doing? Like, you're kind of a dickhead for doing this.

And then now he's made it this far, so good on him. Good on him for coming this far. So here's the part I don't quite understand. On the one hand, you seem like quite emotionally centered about it, which I think you have to be. Yeah. On the other hand, I have heard you say it's personal. It is. Okay, but those seem, they seem like contradictions.

Yeah. So thread that needle for me. It's called duality there's no black full metal jacket the duality of man yeah exactly the duality of man there's no black or white there's always a big gray area so humans have a complex you know you can be complex in so many ways and vast emotions but i am yeah i'm able to i know right now i can't get emotional about what am i going to do like it's not going to serve me in any way to get emotional about it. And again, I let this go a long time ago. I even said to homeboy, like, the knockout never annoyed me when I watched it.

When I watched it back, what annoyed me was round two. I didn't stay true to my style. You know me. You know my style. I didn't stay true to my style, the way I pick people apart when I hurt them. Even when I call fights, I see people headhunting. I'm like, yo, go to the body, go to the leg. I varied my attacks a little bit with him, but not enough where I was just trying to

take him out. I was literally trying to take him out, and I don't like that about my style. So that's what annoyed me. That's what really got to me like, fuck, why didn't I stay true to my style? But yeah, I've let that go. Like I said, I'm not holding on to anything doesn't serve me Even doesn't serve him. He can hold on to that knockout cuz but it's not gonna serve him when it's Saturday night It's not gonna serve him to push back on that a little bit the eye

Knowing he has knocked you out. You don't think that would serve him It seems like that would lift him a little bit It's not gonna serve him in a reality of things when me and him are locked in the cage It's not gonna serve him because once we start moving once he starts throwing and hitting fresh air It's not gonna say what's that gonna to serve him because once we start moving, once he starts throwing and hitting fresh air, what's that going to do for him? You mentioned something that I picked up on that I'm kind of curious about, which is that you think he's going to gas. Now, I don't know. If you haven't paid attention, then maybe you didn't see it.

Did you see his last fight in kickboxing? Artem Vakitov, the rematch? Five-round glory fight? No, I've never watched his kickboxing. I know the guy. He was a light heavyweight. Yeah, Vakitov's very good. He lost the first two rounds, Vakatov did, and then stormed back the last three.

And by the fifth, it was still kind of close. It was a bit of a ho-hum affair. I don't know. He seemed, Pereira did, like a little languid. I don't know what the word would be. He just didn't seem quite. What does languid mean? Labored.

Everything was loose. Everything was loose. It didn't seem as quiet as dialed in as he was in the first round. And it almost seemed like he punted on it. I'm wondering, if you're saying you didn't see that fight, then I guess it didn't play a role. So then tell me what you have seen that makes you think that the longer this goes, the more decisive you are. It's not about him. It's about me. I know where I can go.

I know where I can go. I don't know what to say. go. I know where I can go. I was gonna say but like yesterday I literally thought we finished. I thought we had one more round when we're doing our work and they were like no we're done. Tim's nodding in agreement right now. I literally thought we had one more round and then they had to convince me by telling me the rounds I did to let me know that we finished and I was like oh I was like okay okay sweet like i know where i'm at right now it's not about him it's about me i know where i'm at right now and i know me so there's not like this fight's already sold if not and i would have been talking so much and whatnot if i'd

never fought him before and i would have probably played the tactic a little different but like i said this guy's already beaten me he's beaten me in the past in a different code in kickboxing. So it would be stupid of me to come in here and try and, like, intimidate him. I know he doesn't get intimidated easily. Neither do I. So it would be stupid of him to try all those tactics he's doing to try and get at me. I find it funny because I'm like, you think I'm really going to give a fuck about you doing, I don't know, some tennis ball mimicry? Ask Costa how that went for him, making skits about me.

And in a sense, like Jordan, I take that personally. Yeah, I take that personally. The Gary Payton thing? Exactly. But not right now. Like, there's nothing I can do right now. I'm just chilling. I can just do what I can do right now.

I'm going to work, cut this weight, rehydrate, and then, yeah, when it's time to express, I'll express. All right. So let me combine two things here that I think are happening at once. One is that you've got this rivalry with this guy, and that has its own set of parameters. The other one is that you had a bit of backlash after the Cannoneer fight, which I'm sure you're fully aware of, and it almost seems like there is a portion of backlash after the Cannoneer fight, which I'm sure you're fully aware of, and it almost seems like there is a portion of the community that is using Pereira as like an avatar for wanting to get back at you or to make you lose or something along those lines.

Do you feel that he is either inadvertently or advertently serving as that kind of role? I think he's got a lot of new fans, and it's just a lot of people who don't want me to be where I'm at. So they're like, suddenly they have Pereira fans, and oh my God, he's the greatest, and they watch a few highlights. We're in the TikTok generation, Luke. These guys don't have the attention span even more than a goldfish. They just move on to the next thing. So I know for a fact none of these cunts fucking sat down

and watched the first fight and sat down and watched the second fight or even any of my kickboxers. They watch highlights, and they see the highlights and think, oh, and they get sold. Same thing happened with Whitaker. Same thing happened with Costa. All these guys, they just think, like, this is the guy. And then once I take care of this guy, what are they going to say after that? They'll find something else to say. They'll say, oh, he's on steroids, or he did this, he say after that they'll find something else to say they'll sell he's on steroids or he did

this he's at that you know they'll find something else to say they always do alright so one of the things that I it's not that I endorsed the criticism because I don't I don't like one of the things they say they don't really I don't really agree with but there is something I have noticed or you've been fighting in UFC a number of times right do you've been there for years at this point and some of your fights have gone the full many of your fights have gone the full distance. In fact, I think that the last three or four have all gone the full distance. There's a lot of tape on you. There's just a lot of tape on you. It seemed to me, from what I could tell from the Cannoneer fight, was he couldn't get

over the hump to launch any meaningful offense. But even you have acknowledged that MMA Lab had that guy ready. And so your peers, I'm not going to say have fully caught up with you, because I don't think that's true. Hear me out. Hear me out. Let me get the question out. But they have defensively found a comfortable place to survive. Right? But that does create a bit of a stall out effect for the fans watching. Is this an accurate assessment in your mind? I think so. And that's why I've changed a lot of... Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with

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I've changed the way I move the board, the chess pieces on the board, put it that way. What did you say, Garry Kasparov? Kasparov on the board, put it that way. Like what did you say, Gary Kasparov? Kasparov, yeah. Yeah. He's got that move. I've found my own moves that I can use to surprise them where they're like, what the fuck is this? So, yeah.

And this is why I'm 33. I'm still learning in this game. A lot of things are still, even to me, I'm surprising myself in this camp. I'm surprising myself with the work that I'm getting out of myself. So, yeah, I've got my own moves. I know how to move. Yeah. How do you stay so injury-free, by the way?

I've got to say, it's one of the more remarkable things that never gets discussed, that you're able to be this. It's just bizarre. Because, you know, it's so funny. We were in Arizona, like, two weeks ago for the Jake Paul fight. And, like, we talked to Uriah Hall. And he was like, oh, my God, like, the injury load is so much less training boxing. It's just hard to train MMA.

MMA, that's the thing. People forget there's so many facets of martial arts you have to learn. Even for this camp, I had to pick and choose. Like, what am I going to give my attention to? Because you only have so much time in a day, you know, and there's only so much I can do. So I had to pick and choose, and my my coaches as well what we can put our attention to that will really benefit us for this fight. Why do you think, or actually you tell me how you think you're understood, but why do

you think there is a portion of the fan base that doesn't understand you in the way you'd like to be understood? Because they're stupid. That's a very simple explanation, is it the correct one? Okay, well I'll put it this way, okay, it is, but that's the generic way. But the thing is, they have not done the work that we have. They have not done the work that you have. You're a guy who studies the game, the intricacies of the game.

You're a guy who studies outside footwork control, the range finders, what kind of pros this guy is using, level changes. We study this shit. So someone who's watching me fight, even me when I was watching the Anderson Silva-Jake Paul fight, I was impressed with Jake, but I was fucking just nostalgic watching Anderson like, fuck, this is cool. Like, yes, I see Floyd Mayweather on Instagram hitting the pads, and I'm just like, I'm excited because he's a master at what he does. And still seeing him move, it's beautiful to me.

That's art. You know, so people aren't really appreciative of art. Yeah, a lot of these people are just too drunk. They're at the fights by 4 p.m., 5 p.m. They're there drinking. By the time my fight comes around, knock him out. Come on, man. Stand him up, man. Knock him out. That's a pretty good American accent. I know, but for me, I think, like I said, yeah, they're stupid.

But I just feel like they're not as educated on what we're doing. So we forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. So if I had to ask you who you're fighting for this weekend, you're going to say you first. Yeah, of course. Me, I fight for myself. I'm fighting for my family. I'm fighting for my team and my close people. But for me, it's always me.

Okay, so on the you part, are you fighting to close this chapter? Are you fighting to right a wrong? How do you characterize beating Pareto? What does that actually mean to you? In the arc of my story, this is like, you know, me and my anime and my storylines and whatnot, this is the arc of my story, this is like, you know, me and my anime and my storylines and whatnot. This is the arc of my story where I pretty much just close this chapter.

And then he might resurrect and come back. But what is it? Law number 15. Crush your enemies totally. You leave no amber. You leave no sign of life because they might come back for revenge. So he should have killed me in Brazil. But this time when I crush him, it's total.

I know you won't tell me the answer. so I'm going to ask it this way. Would knocking him out or a TKO stoppage be as equally satisfying as a stoppage you got from potentially wrestling him and then TKO ground and pound? Wrestling. That's interesting. Are those equally satisfying to you? Just fucking putting him in the ground, burying him. That's satisfying. Even if I decision him, let me see.

Well, I guess what I mean to say is, is there a pride angle to this being like, I can beat this guy with my kickboxing? Oh, yeah. I mean, I know I can. That doesn't, my ego doesn't know. No, actually, no. If I submit him, what about that? If he gets rocked and he shoots and then becomes a wrestler and then, oh, shit, I snatch his neck and submit him, what about that? If he gets rocked and he shoots and then becomes a wrestler,

and then, oh, shit, I snatch his neck and submit him, and that's it. I'll be happy with that. I'll be very happy. Even if I beat him by decision, it's just I beat him. That's the main thing. First time he beat me by decision, I beat him. But the thing is, it's like we're on this level now. We're on a level where he is only here because of me. There's no reason he should be here. He's blessed. He's

building his whole career off my back. So I want to send him back. It's also weird where like if you beat him, what is their left at middleweight? I haven't looked. I don't want to look. I have a few guys I would like. Like Sean, I want to whoop that guy just for fun. But he needs to show me something. Sean Strickland. Yeah. I want to destroy him just for fun.

My own benefit. But apart from him. He's got very loud opinions. Yeah, I know. Very. Stupidly. I respect him, though. He's a good fighter.

I respect him. I like his coach very much. Not even as a fighter. I respect the fact he speaks his mind. I do as well. But I respect the fact he openly and stupidly sometimes speaks his mind. I can respect that. You actually, so I have seen you in person, but we didn't have this interaction.

I saw you at the UFC 276 presser. Yep. Where you were turning around. I watched you ice grill pareda at that one. What was that about? I was just in the moment. I was in the moment at that time. Sometimes,

the beast can like, poke its head out and I have to reel it back in. Like, nah, chill champ, chill. I feel that every fight camp.

Since probably, I started happening, not a long time ago, but the most prominent one was the Costa fight and I was really like, practicing patience in that one because I was like,

my body was ready to go. My mind was ready to go. And whenever I ran to Costa, like, the beast, have you seen split the movie oh with James McAvoy not recently yeah maybe on a plane he talks about the beast and the beast will sometimes poke its head out and I have to be like yo chill I catch myself and I'm just like I can feel it just from the guts and your instincts your body's just primed and ready for war. Because I don't do this shit for fun.

I'm going to war. So I have to sometimes just chill. It's not yet ready. It's not yet ready. Not time. So is 205 still inevitable? Like if you beat him? I'll do it.

Yeah, eventually. But right now, I want to have a run at 185. So I'm just going to smoke everyone at 185 and then move up. Some of your contenders in the division, I don't know if you paid attention, Hamzat Shumayev likes his chances against you. Have you? He likes his chances against everyone, so. He is a maniac.

Yeah. What do you make of what he's been up to? Fucking, you look at 170, look at who he has to fight at 170. So focus on that first. Or just move up and he's not going to get a shot straight away. Fuck that. Not at 185, no. Show me something.

Show me at least. I'm tired of this shit. Like people think they can just like, oh. I got a shot straight away at the 205 champ because I've shown people something. You know, but yeah. So he needs to show me something first. I don't know if you paid attention and made the headlines today or yesterday. Oh no.

Bo Nickel. Did you see his comments about you? I think he said something like it would be basically impossible for you to not be submitted by him. Something along those lines. Okay. Same thing, show you something? Everyone has an opinion, so he has a right to his opinion. It is weird that they're, not that those guys think that they can win, but it is weird that there's this lingering like, I have to do is take Izzy down kind of thing right no one has ever tried because no one's ever tried to take me down and submit me it is but it's this enduring kind of bizarre criticism a little bit right it is I think it is and also um yeah I think everyone just I mean I could say

whatever I want to say about him as well I should give him props I was like yeah he's doing what he's doing but but I'd like to see more. He's only just got here, and I know he's a decorated wrestler, but this is not wrestling. This is MMA, and there's ways to exploit wrestlers in MMA. Circling back to the fans for just a second, or I should say MMA more broadly, the community, because it's not really just the fans. It's kind of everyone in between. It sounds like, from what I can tell, you've, if this is,

you don't want to be any more famous than you already are. Like, this sounds to me like... I want to be richer. Richer. Right, but there's a difference between having a lot of money and being famous about it.

Yeah. It sounds like you have had enough of that. Like, if this is all it ever is in terms of fame, you're good, it sounds like. Fine, yeah, I'm fine. But I've kind of accepted, though, because I used to have this in my head

where I'm like, when I'm done with this game, you know, I'm going to fade away and this and that. And then people slowly know what will bother me and this. But I've kind of accepted that this is going to be my life forever, and I'm only going to keep going up because I'm only going to keep being me. I look at guys like, when I hang out with Mike Tyson, I see the way, and talking to him as well, I see the way his life is. He cannot go anywhere, anywhere without him being Mike Tyson. I'm not there yet. I'm not saying I'm even, you know, where he's at.

But I know with what I'm doing in this game and the way I keep progressing, it's going to get to the point where it gets like that. So I have to be I have to be very cautious and very aware that I can't I can't shy away from it. I have to accept this is part of my life and just stand in my light. And so it sounds to me, based on that, okay, let me ask it a slightly different way. Assuming everything goes your way on Saturday, what's on the combat sports bucket list for you at this point? It's it's it's not that you couldn't get more wins it's not that you couldn't like rack up numbers but i guess i'm just trying to wonder in your mind what remains unconquered obviously ox put it as a really big thing to figure out i actually haven't looked past or even peak normally i peek at the future see who's next i did that the

last three fights i'm like okay i think i probably have to do vittoria uh kind of near. I peak. But this one, no peeking, no looking. I just straight focus on Pereira. That's it. He's the only guy in my crosshairs right now. So, yeah, I'm not looking past him. What are the folks in New Zealand saying about this contest? I don't know. I haven't really been keeping my ear to the streets.

I've just literally nose down grinding. I've just been working. I haven't really, I don't even read the fucking news or anything like that because they don't really have anything nice to say. They always have some salacious article about someone. So, yeah, for me, I just literally focus on my own business. Put it that way. I've been minding my business. Yeah.

Well, you're certainly minding your business in this palatial estate. It's pretty crazy. Well, I will say that this has been a wonderful conversation. I hope it's not another three and a half years before I talked to you i don't think it would be yeah when you yeah you reached out and i was like yeah i gotta talk to luke because i like i like the fact because even with my my freestyle bender when i give breakdowns i hold back a lot i don't get too deep because i know you do i know you do i can see you do it so i know because eugene even said like fuck you could piss in a cup and then watch

he's right so he says like stop talking because he and he told me this because he as a coach would watch that and then see he'd get a lot from that he would get a lot from that so he pretty much just asked me just just keep it basic don't try and give too much away because you're giving away your intellectual property, our intellectual property. So yeah, that's why I hold back a lot. So when I get to talk to a guy like you, I can just a little bit,

we can go deep on this fight, bro. We can really go deep on this fight. And those who know, who've been watching my work, man, I say less because then, oh, he's hyping the fight again. It's just a little jab and leg kick, which I might, which I might, because they work. So, yeah, it's been fun, and I look forward to doing this again.

Real quickly before you go, why did you start the YouTube channel? For fun? My brother David, I've been told for years to do it when I go on the UFC, so I'm shout out to my brother David. He's the one that had like pretty much just spearheaded it just made sure it happened and I'm glad he did because within a year and now some more we've just shot up

and I'm excited with what we're doing and also it just gives me another avenue to be able to express and also get the news from the horse's mouth because I got tired of these fucking gotcha journalists with their clickbait headlines. Yeah, sorry, I got one more about that before we go.

Oh, you're all right. Yeah, go ahead. So this is why the YouTube channel is kind of interesting is that is when you present it to the world, it's your message. David edits the video. I'm sure you see it. Stay Hydrated edits it. That's the guy.

That's the blog. And then Jeff films it as well. Okay, but it's yours and it feels like if you don't have that control that there is a strong capacity to be someone else to define the terms of how you look you have to sound narrative you have to control a narrative so and i you know whenever a video comes out david sends it for me for approval i give it the okay boom within maybe the first 24 hours i'll have a look at the comments, and it's all positive.

Yes. And it's all positive. I've noticed that, yeah. I'm just like, man, it's like people when they see me just being myself, they're like, oh my God, he's so, he's so this, he's so, oh, I want to kick it with him.

But when someone else gets something from the presser, and they ask a clickbait headline question, ah, gotcha, boom. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they'd be like, oh, he's this, he's that. And I'm just like, that's not even what I said.

That's not how I meant it. You didn't even hear the first part of the response. So yeah, I'd rather people get it from the horse's mouth, get it from the source. The source. All right, so after the 276 fight,

you go to the media event and you told them, I can do your job, but you can't. What prompted that? Same thing, because I felt like I was being misquoted on I'm misquoted but like um Also, I got some rumblings of some because I stopped doing like interviews with a lot of people not cuz Cuz I felt like it's no need I have my youtube now Why do I have to do this guy show this guy showing this guy showing this girl showing this person show?

I'm like all I'm doing is giving you free money because I know how YouTube works now. I literally know how it works. So I'm like, if I give you my time, you get ad revenue and you also get money off that. It's like, well, you don't give me none of that. It's like, why am I giving you this? And also then you clip bait, you know, headline me and then misquote me and then get that clip put on your Instagram. And I'm just like, nah, I'm good. So now I pick and choose who I want to give time to because I appreciate them like yourself.

Thank you. So I want to, yeah. And then people took that personally. And I was hearing, it always gets back to me because I'm me. People were trying, oh, guess what this person said about you. You know what I mean? So it always gets back to me. So I heard and I was like, nah, fuck these guys.

So I just have to remind them like, and I can. It's like, trust me, I could, you know, no disrespect to any journalists out there heard and I was like, nah, fuck these guys. So I just have to remind them like, and I can. It's like, trust me, I could, you know, no disrespect to any journalists out there, but I could do what you do, but they can never do what I do. And some think, oh, I can hit it back

so I can do what you do. Cool, get in the UFC. Go have one fight and talk to me. You know, I respect people like you who actually enjoy the game and respect the athletes, you know,

rather than trying to get headlines. Everyone wants to get headlines. Everyone wants to be first. I don't do a ton of interviews. Yeah. You know what I mean? But I appreciate that. You and your guy, you know, you do good work on the combat corner. Yeah, morning combat. Morning combat. It's okay. Yeah. Combat corner is different. Morning combat, yes. Yeah, we try. Well, champ, I got to tell you, I don't know what else to ask you at this point, but well, there's a bunch of off the record ones I can ask you we can talk later yeah but um i will tell you this i am eagerly excited for saturday same and um it's a big one for you man oh last thing promise last question in all your title defenses where does

this one what does this one rank all six of them um this would be the best one yet this will be when i get it done this will be the most satisfying so far it's between the Rob and the Costa one Costa one was big yeah that was big

you humped him that was flawless you humped him that was a lot by the way that was a lot too tapped too tapped

but this will be the best one yeah but again patiently waiting buying my time and I can't wait to get work done so I can

have the last laugh I will leave it at that champ thank you for your time can't wait to get work done so I can have the last laugh. I will leave it at that. Champ, thank you for your time. Bless you, my man. Can't wait to see you on Saturday. Likewise.

Israel Adesanya.