Newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Brazilian Alex Pereira spoke out about his win over New Zealand's Israel Adesanya.
I was destined to be champion. I worked hard, I gave my best to make it happen. I apologize that I resorted to trash talk this time, but I had to get inside this guy's head to get this fight. It was a tough fight, but like Glover (Teixeira) said, I had fights every day at practice. I was ready for it, so anybody who said I didn't have enough experience, that I wasn't established in the division, not ready for championship fights - take another look at what I did today. I had no problem fighting off five rounds. Give me the next one.
Alex Pereira, octagon interview
The bout between Pereira and Adesanya took place in the main event of UFC 281 in the early morning hours of Nov. 13 in New York City. Alex won this fight by TKO in the fifth round.
In July of this year, Pereira met American Sean Strickland in the octagon at UFC 276. Alex won that fight by knockout in the first round. He has seven wins and one loss.