According to former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya "Black Dragon," this undercurrent rivalry will continue despite Alex Pereira "Stone Fist" winning all three of his fights.
Adishaya recently uploaded a video in which he can be seen having a "friendly" interaction with former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira, who happens to be Pereira's coach. Although it was a respectful and friendly exchange, "Black Dragon" said he still sees it as a fierce competition, saying:
"It's still a struggle. No, not now, but it's still a competition, but always respectful of each other ... I love your story, visa issues, all these XX things happened, so congratulations. ”
Teixeira greatly appreciated the former middleweight champion's kind words, adding that he knew it was still a fight because both "Stone Fist" and "Black Dragon" were competitive and both could do a lot with the money earned from another showdown, Black Dragon interrupted him and reiterated that they were still in a struggle, Black Dragon said:
"Like I said, it's still WAR. It's not over between us, it's still a war. You know, it's still war. We always respect each other, but it's still WAR. ”
Based on Black Dragon's interaction with Teixeira, it appears that Adisaya intends to immediately have a rematch with Pereira, not knowing if the UFC will announce this fight.
Adishaya and Dan Hook receive "Best Gym" at the 14th World MMA Awards
City Kickboxing, New Zealand, where Black Dragon is located, won the "Best Gym of the Year" award
It was a great night for Adisaya and Dan Hooker, who won the Best Gym award at the 2022 World MMA Awards.
Over the past few years, City Kickboxing Gym has grown tremendously with an incredible cast of talented fighters, including "Black Dragon," Hook, Kai-Kara France, and Alex Volkanovski "The Great." Volkanovsky is the current UFC featherweight champion and the top fighter in the P4P rankings.
Adisaya was unbeaten in the middleweight division before losing to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. He also challenged former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, but failed.
Based on the exciting matchups coming in 2023, it will be interesting to see if City Kickboxing Gym will win this distinction again at next year's World MMA Awards. They will face some stiff competition, as two of the disciples of "Kittyhawk" Khabib Nurmagomedov have already won titles (UFC Lightweight Championship and Bellator Lightweight Championship) in their respective MMA organizations.