Alex Pereira fought Israel Adesanya injured at UFC 281, revealing to ESPN that he entered the contest with a torn ligament in his right hand and ‘didn’t train very well’ in the lead-up to the fight.
Pereira might not have been feeling his best, but he still went on to defeat Adesanya via TKO, finishing the now-defeated champ with a barrage of punches in the fifth round to claim the UFC middleweight title.
“I didn’t train very well for this fight. I could have been better,” Pereira, who is the only man to defeat Adesanya in kickboxing and MMA, said.