BIT MMA

Yes you read that right, Alex Pereira’s and Israel Adesanya’s fates are tied by a substance as specific alcohol. It may be the reason why Adesanya is 1-3 against Pereira as he is beginning to lose to an opponent which Pereira already slayed. Alex Pereira was born to Indigenous Brazilian family in an impoverished favela. He dropped out of school in order to work at the tire shop to cover his own expenses and help out his family. Mixing in a twelve year old amongst a bunch of drunk adult car mechanics obviously did not work out. Alex began drinking cachaca heavily to the tune of one liter per day. While American teenagers at his age were playing video games, smoking weed, and complaining about not getting a car for their sweet sixteenth, this savage was downing a bottle of rum every day while working hard at a tire shop to support himself and his family. Eventually, Alex turned to kickboxing and turned pro at 21 years of age. What is impressive is that Alex hasn’t yet kicked his habit yet, no pun intended. He amassed an amateur record of 25-3 while still drinking and battling alcoholism. Like many addicts he would quit for periods of times, but the moment he would have a sip of alcohol he would relapse and be back to square one. He realized that in order to reach the highest of highs in combat sports he would have to give up alcohol altogether. He can either do both and still be above average but not the best, or he puts the bottle down and becomes a legend and boy did he. He became a multi division champion in Glory kickboxing, then transitioned to MMA and within 11 fights he conquered two different belts, while also tracking down his nemesis Israel Adesanya and finishing him in MMA as well as beating people that beat Izzy, and getting a Light Heavyweight belt. Something that Israel himself tried to do and failed. To this day when asked how he stays away from alcohol so strictly, Alex replies with “everything that has been good in my life happened when I was sober, when I drank I was only happy in the moment, now I’m happy all the time”. Now let’s take a look at how this vice, banished by Alex Pereira, seems to be finding a home within Israel Adesanya. It is almost poetic how diametrically opposed yet connected Israel’s life is to Pereira’s. Unlike Pereira, Adesanya was born to a middle to upper class family in Nigeria. Both of his parents were professionals, and Izzy did not need to drop out of school to help them out, he even recalls having maids growing up. While Alex grew up in the same exact land in which his ancestors lived for thousands of years, Adesanya was more of a nomad. After having already lived in Ghana for a little bit he relocated to New Zealand with his family at the age of 10. Here, Izzy battled demons different from Alex. Being an anime nerd, and being different from those around him in his new home of New Zealand, Izzy was bullied. This is important to note as it might be the reason why Adesanya is going through what he is going through currently. Just like Pereira, Israel turned pro at a similar age of 20. He moved to China and participated in organizations there until reaching the famed Glory kickboxing organization. He was hugely successful and won the middleweight belt. This is where Alex Pereira first comes into play. He beat Adesanya in Glory in their first matchup by decision, and then a year later gives Izzy a nice send-off from the sport of kickboxing by knocking him out cold. Izzy leaves kickboxing alone, and finds huge success in MMA. Fast forward a few years later, and Adesanya is on top of the world. At this point he is loved by fans, is one of the biggest stars in UFC, defended his middleweight UFC belt multiple times, and is expected to challenge for the light heavyweight belt. Being the media’s darling with his witty responses, he gets a curveball thrown at him. One interviewer asks him about Alex Pereira being the only man to have knocked him out, and what he thinks of him. Adesanya belittles Pereira by saying that the man is basically a nobody and his future consists of hanging out at bars and telling some “crackhead whores” that he once beat the man that is on the TV (adesanya). The fact that Adesanya chose a bar as the setting for this story is either proof that the universe works in mysterious ways or that Izzy is petty to the point of trying to trigger Alex regarding his low level of fame at the time and his past battle with alcoholism. This interview would ultimately bite Izzy in the you know what, let’s not get too specific before Izzy gets excited. After this interview Alex and Izzy were on a collision course to face each other again, except once again their roads were polar opposites. Adesanya, having achieved high levels of fame and wealth, seems to have gotten bored. He began winning boring point scoring decisions over opponents that are frankly nowhere near his level.