Israel Adesanya reflects on UFC 281 loss to Alex Pereira | ESPN MMA

Megan Olivi interviews Israel Adesanya backstage at UFC 281 after losing his middleweight title to Alex Pereira in the main event.

#UFC281 #Adesanya #UFC

[ericrollings]

Owning his loss and saying he needed to talk to his coaches first impressed me the most. Absolutely the reason he has became the fighter he is today.

[ismaieladen]

Hate him or love him... Israel Adesanya has been the second longest reigning champ in middleweight which is no easy task. Nothing but respect to the former champ 👏🙌

[MF-lefp]

Credit to him for showing grace, composure, and being humble enough to do this obviously very tough interview. Respect.

[Ultra-Instrinct]

Class act. This man makes no excuses and picks himself right up. I hope we get a rematch, it was a great fight.

[idzwanramli]

Izzy and Kamaru did exactly the same thing. Took the loss and acknowledged their opponents. Kamaru even said this about Leon's KO kick : "“People are trying to take away from his win. No, he landed a good kick and he put me out.”
Love them or hate them, they reigned as kings of their division for a reason.
Aside for their sheer hard work, they ARE classy human beings in a defeat.

[sopheareach]

He took his loss like a man. Hope to see him back in game soon

[fistandpen]

This man did ALL the rounds as Champ before the fight, and doing ALL the rounds - every stop, every interview - after the toughest loss of his career. The man respects the fans 1000%, and like his style or not, its time fans respect him for every bit of the LEGEND that he is.

[RNSSE]

''I trust my coaches and they say it was a good stopage''

World class.

[jehushaphat]

I think I've come to respect Adesanya more after his losses than after his wins. He really shows great class after every fight despite his promotional antics leading up to the fights, and he always gives props to his opponents, win or lose.

[Reesetv]

And that is what a Champion looks like. Never seen a more classy fighter in a loss! How he didn’t dodge any questions and stood on his shortcomings is remarkable in this day and age. Congrats Izzy I know you’ll be back on top!

[thereversedboy]

He is just a legend! And the interviewer did a great job very polite

[ahmedabdalla]

Izzy messed up in the 4th, he let him rest too much.. you can’t let a knockout artist rest an entire round leading up to the end

[walterwine]

Huge respect for him doing interviews and accepting his defeat and not going the Ronda route

[yournonfavoriteperson]

Taking the loss like a legend. You learn the true value of a man when he faces adversity. Also congrats to Alex, great performance from him.

[kedo]

Still love the He set the bar high and finally someone else has met him can't wait for his comeback

[shadabazmi]

Not many can digest loss but Izzy is showing how legends behave even after loss ....

[magiller]

Humble in defeat. Savage fight
Fair play to both warriors

[kedo]

Wow. Nothing but respect for Izzy. So humble, genuine and respectful. Refreshing to see in this sport. I feel like pereira got lucky with this fight. Great performance from both.

[e.malachi]

Props for manning up and offering no excuses. More respect for him now than I had before the fight

[rickykatt]

Thats a professional right there. Lots of heart and humility.