Israel Adesanya wishes to visit Alex Pereira’s tribe in Brazil – “We’ll go there!”

Former two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is keen to explore the origins of his nemesis turned friend, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. 

Israel Adesanya is currently building friendships with his former opponents. Recently, he befriended former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, whom he defeated two times, and now, he’s making amends with his arch-nemesis Alex Pereira.  

Why does Israel Adesanya want to visit Alex Pereira’s tribe in Brazil?

Israel Adesanya is always open to exploring different traditions. He was born and raised in a Christian household, but he doesn’t identify with any specific religion. After the boxing fight between Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Walin concluded in Abu Dhabi, Adesanya chose to extend his stay in the Middle East and went to pray at the Grand Mosque on Christmas. 

Ahead of Alex Pereira’s second fight against Jiri Prochazka, “BJP” confidently stated that Pereira works with Shaman practitioners in his hometown who spiritually help him to perform inside the octagon. While Pereira didn’t refute Prochazka’s allegations, he responded by saying that everyone has their own spirits, and he has found his. 

 In a Joe Rogan podcast episode, Adesanya also said that Pereira’s success in the octagon is largely influenced by the prayers of his people and revealed that he is also in touch with people who pray for him in the spirit world. 

“It’s his spirit; it’s whatever his ancestors or his people that are praying for him because I have prayer worries as well my Mom and Dad be fastening, and they have people in the spirit (world) praying for me, but like, the way he carries himself, something about him just, he knows how to recover well.” Adesanya said in Joe Rogan’s podcast. 

“The Last Stylebender” is currently facing a major downfall in his career after having lost three back-to-back fights. Although he hasn’t explicitly detailed the reason behind his interest in meeting Alex Pereira’s people, however, it can be said safely that he’s on a bit of a soul-searching journey before deciding what he wants to do in the future. 

In a recently uploaded video on the Freestlybender YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya attended the UFC 312 event alongside Alex Pereira and his coach, Pilino Cruz. There, out of many conversations, he expressed the desire to visit Brazil and meet Pereira’s people. 

“I will, I will come with you guys! When we fought, it was a carnival. After we fought, we went to the mountain, and we had some really good Brazilian barbeque. We’ll go Brazil! I also wanna go where his people are (points to Alex Pereira), the tribes.”

After Adesanya said that he was interested in visiting Brazil and meeting the tribe, Alex Pereia’s coach, Pilino, explained to him that the light heavyweight champion belongs to one of the fifteen Indigenous groups residing near the Xingu River in Brazil. These groups represent Brazil’s four Indigenous languages and also share similar rituals and ceremonies. Collectively, they are known as Xingu people. 

Israel Adesanya to fight in the latter half of the year 2025. 

Although Israel Adesanya was brutally knocked out in the last fight against Nassourdine Imavov, his hiatus is not expected to last long. Adesanya has always been appreciated for his activity inside the octagon and he wants to maintain that even during a time when he’s facing some adversity. 

“The Last Stylebender” doesn’t know who his opponent will be, but at least he has confirmed that he’s not thinking about retirement and wants to fight in the latter half of 2025. In the conversation with Alex Pereria and his coach, describing his last fight against Nassourdine Imavov, Adesanya said – 

“I felt amazing. I will do it again, but I don’t know who I’m gonna fight next, but I’ll fight later in the year.”

Will it be Strickland, Cannonier, or Boralho? We cannot say with certainty, but Adesanya will be back in action whenever he finds an exciting opponent.

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