UFC commentator and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier credited his fellow former light heavyweight champ Glover Teixeira with creating Alex Pereira’s historic middleweight title victory over Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. On his YouTube channel, Cormier echoed Pereira’s own words on the subject, pointing out that Teixeira’s pep talk going into the final round of the fight created impetus for the challenger to go out and earn a finish.
“I think the key was Glover Teixeira and his team letting Alex Pereira know, very sternly, ‘If you want to be the champion, you’ve got five minutes. You’ve got to lay it all out there.’ And that’s exactly what he did.
DC Credits Teixeira with Pereira Title Win
He went out there and threw caution to the wind. Generally, we don’t see guys press Adesanya that much, because the danger in him countering is so great that they don’t want to risk it. Well tonight, Pereira knew that if he didn’t risk it, he was going to lose the fight, and he got the job done in round five.”
Adesanya has since claimed that, when referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight on the feet, he could have kept going. DC disagreed, pointing out how much damage “The Last Stylebender” would have endured.
“There are people guys, people in the know, who said, ‘I’m not sure I love the stoppage.’ Doesn’t matter. That was a great stoppage, because there’s nothing worse than being finished in a fight.
Because your body and your mind tells you, ‘Grab him, slow him down, give yourself an opportunity,’ but there’s nothing you can do. Your body fails you. You start flailing.
We’ve never seen Israel Adesanya with his hands down, taking shots like that. It would have only gotten worse. So I do love the stoppage. It was a just stoppage. It should have happened because it was only going to get worse. This guy hits too hard. You don’t want to take unnecessary damage from Alex Pereira because he hits so hard.
And also knowing you’re going to get an immediate rematch. I know it sucks to lose the belt, but the long term damage Adesanya would have taken by just getting put to sleep, he might not recover from that. Especially from a guy that’s done it to you twice.”
Was Alex Pereira’s win over Israel Adesanya an early stoppage, or did the ref make the right call? Let us know what you think in the comments.
