Israel Adesanya trolls Alex Pereira's callout with 'Frozen' quip, Pereira responds

12/11/2023 14:00

Israel Adesanya reacted to Alex Pereira's post-UFC 295 callout with a playful troll of the new light heavyweight champ.

Following Pereira's knockout win over Jiri Prochazka, Adesanya posted a meme showing the Brazilian knocked out and made up like Elsa from the movie "Frozen." He added the caption "lol rent free...I sleep good."

"Let it gooo," Adesanya also wrote, a quote from the Disney movie he quoted often before exacting revenge over Pereira by knockout at UFC 287.

Pereira targeted Adesanya after knocking out former light heavyweight champ Prochazka in the main event of Saturday's pay-per-view card, which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"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 said. "I know it's a guy we have a lot of history. I want to make this fight happen. Adesanya, come to daddy."

Adesanya recently announced he would take a sabbatical from the sport following his second title-losing fight, a decision loss to Sean Strickland that marked the second setback of his past three bouts. Pereria first captured the UFC middleweight title with a fifth-round TKO of Adesanya at UFC 281, but he was knocked out in the second round of their UFC 287 rematch.

Pereira's win over Prochazka marked another remarkable accomplishment in his short MMA career. His fight with Prochazka was just his second in the UFC light heavyweight division after beating ex-champ Jan Blachowicz in his division debut earlier this year. He also held two titles in the kickboxing promotion GLORY, which recently added him to its Hall of Fame.

Asked for a response to Adesanya's message, Pereira took the high road and urged the former middleweight champ to entertain his offer.

"Regardless of what he said, I was respectful, and I mean what I said," Pereira said via translator. "I'll give him a chance. He doesn't seem motivated, and I think that's a fight everybody would like to see, so I try to push him to come back."

Pereira and Adesanya's rivalry pre-dates their work in the UFC. The two met twice in the kickboxing ring with Pereira winning both bouts, the second by vicious knockout in 2017.