Firas Zahabi speculates that Alex Pereira may never be the same again after his brutal knockout loss at the hands of Israel Adesanya at UFC 287.
Pereira made his UFC debut in 2021, and with only three victories, he secured a title shot given his history with Adesanya in kickboxing, where the Brazilian beat his arch-rival twice. The two faced off at UFC 281, where ‘Po Atan’ pulled off a huge comeback victory, knocking his opponent out in the fifth round to win the title.
In their rematch at UFC 287, Adesanya turned the tables on him by knocking him out cold in the second round to reclaim his title. After his loss, Pereira has decided to move up to light heavyweight, where he will fight the likes of Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill among others.
Firas Zahabi On Alex Pereira
Zahabi isn’t very optimistic about Pereira’s future in combat sports. Speaking on his YouTube channel (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), the TriStar Gym said that the former middleweight champ may never be the same again.
“I think that that knockout, the way he fell, the way he was out, the way he got hit three times. That could be one of those fight-ending, career-ending fights,” Zahabi said. “Like, he might win a few fights, lose a fight. He might never be the same, once you get knocked out really badly like that.
“For instance, I’ll tell you, like, when Aldo got knocked out by McGregor, he was never the same again. When Georges TKO’d BJ Penn, when he gave him that beating, that really bad beating, he was never really the same again.”
Do you agree with Firas Zahabi?
