After great months of MMA through March, April would start with a great fight. Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya 4 is the seeming conclusion of one of the longest and most famous rivalries in recent combat sports history. A great and surprising turn of events made MMA and kickboxing fans the world over see how one of the most one-sided rivalries of all time ended.
Alex and Israel(Izzy) fought thrice before their last fight on April 8th. Alex and Izzy shared the kickboxing ring twice, which resulted in Izzy retiring from kickboxing altogether. After their second fight, Izzy joined the UFC as a renowned kickboxer that later dominated the UFC champion for years. After an interview with an Australian news organization, Izzy mentioned that Alex would be a nobody who would constantly remark on how he knocked out the middleweight champion of the UFC, Israel Adesanya. This response was due to Alex’s posting of his knockout consistently after Izzy's wins in the octagon. Seeing this seemingly activated the then double Glory kickboxing champion, Alex Pereira.
Not long after Adesanya's interview, Alex Pereira returned to MMA. There he fought a couple of fights in a smaller organization and was quickly contracted into the UFC as the marketability of Alex Pereira in the middleweight division was off the charts due to his rivalry with their current champion. In only a couple more bouts, Alex was alr
eady fighting the champion when he received a technical knockout or referee stoppage on Izzy, seemingly solidifying Alex as the better fighter in the rivalry between kickboxing and MMA.
On the 8th of April, Izzy knocked out Alex and proved to the world that he could beat the man who seemingly had his number, as many fans would have once believed. Now the fighters are 3-1 in favor of Alex, however, in MMA they are still only 1-1. Being 1-1 leaves a rematch and trilogy fight possible to let the world know who the better mixed martial artist is. It may not happen soon as rumors of Alex moving up a weight class are rampant with how likely that change is. As not only MMA fans but combat sports fans the fighting world has the responsibility to settle one of the longest rivalries of all time. Maybe the rivalry has ended for now but if they decide to settle it once and for all it is hard to say who the winner could be, but what isn't hard to say is that combat sports fans are the ones who will always win after experiencing such an entertaining and long rivalry.
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