Israel Adesanya brutally mocked for tennis ball reaction training by HOVERBOARD sparring UFC 281 rival Alex Pereira
ALEX PEREIRA trolled UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya after seeing his recent training video – by boxing on a HOVERBOARD.
Adesanya wowed MMA fans across the world earlier this month with videos of his reaction training for his UFC 281 title defence against the Brazilian.
One of the clips showed the Nigerian-born Kiwi repeatedly dodging a tennis ball being thrown by one of his team by moving his entire body and then his head.
But the clip did little to impress Pereira, who took to his own social media channels to mock his foe.
The former two-division GLORY kickboxing champion shared a video of himself boxing one of his sparring partners on top of a self-balancing scooter.
Poatan wrote: “Training with [a] tennis ball is easy!
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“I want to see boxing training on top of a hoverboard.”
MMA fans were quick to comment, with one saying: “This is actually crazy impressive.”
Another said: “Hoverboard boxing> tennis balls.”
And another said: “Izzy over there playing & dodging with tennis balls while Alex here training on a hoverboard.
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“How bonkers is that training leading up to a championship fight?”
Another chimed in: “Impeccable technique. I’m just waiting for Adesanya. What a fight is coming!”
Pereira and Adesanya will renew their rivalry in the main event of UFC 281 in New York on November 12.
The pair, 35 and 33 respectively, know each other well from their two kickboxing bouts in GLORY.
Pereira edged the pair’s first encounter in April 2016, winning via unanimous decision.
The devastating knockout artist went one better in their rematch a year later, scoring a third-round knockout after being rocked earlier in the fight.
Adesanya believes their previous bouts will have little bearing on their third encounter, which he’s very much relishing.
After his UFC 276 title defence against Jared Cannonier, he told Joe Rogan: “We know who’s next. That Poatan P***a.
“Trust me, this first time I told you it was an error on my part.
“A stabbing right hand and that was in kickboxing.
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“It’s easy to knock out, what’s the hillbilly’s name? Because he was parrying the jab.
“But like I said at the press conference, next time I put you on skates, you’re going to get frozen like Elsa.”