New York, NY – All eyes will be on the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night when UFC middleweight Alex Pereira will challenge the champion Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound title.
The heat has been put on by the champion who has mentioned that this fight is personal for him. With the history between the two fighters it’s no secret that Adesanya will attempt to exorcise the demons of the past by defeating Pereira at UFC 281.
Pereira (6-1) doesn’t see it that way.
“Not for me. I’m doing my work and doing my job as I would be fighting anybody else. I’m just focused on fighting for the title,” Pereira told the media on Wednesday through a translator.
Plenty has been made of the kickboxing matches that Pereira and Adesanya have had against each other, primarily the one where the current UFC middleweight champion was knocked out.
Adesanya has alluded that while he did not keep an eye on his opponent after the champion moved on to MMA, that Pereira had kept an eye on him.
“Not true. I made my MMA debut 2015. I was not in the UFC yet,” Pereira said.
Pereira had been making posts on social media seemingly mocking his opponent’s posts, but the challenger chalked it up to having some fun with it.
“That was just for fun you know what I mean? I just do that on a positive way just to laugh a little bit,” Pereira said.
Regardless of the build up Pereira says he’s focused on the fight, and isn’t worried about how it will end.
“Well I’m always getting focused on the fight whether it’s three rounds and now it’s going to be five rounds. I’m just focused on doing my fight,” he said.
“How it’s going to finish, how I’m going to win? I don’t know.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Alex Pereira above. He challenges UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for the title in the main event of UFC 281 on Saturday night.
