The post-fight celebration that Israel Adesanya had at UFC 287 after knocking out Alex Pereira was very famous, and it has been on the street for a reasonable amount of time now. After “Poatan” had defeated him three times, “The Last Stylebender” stood over his defeated opponent and acted like he was going to fire three arrows into his chest.
Of greater concern was his subsequent action, in which he simulated Pereira’s knockout by looking for the teen’s son in the crowd, pointing at him, and then falling to the floor.
In defense of Adesanya, the child had already done something comparable to him when Pereira knocked him out in Brazil a few years earlier. And yet, a professional boxer is making fun of this kid.
Adesanya reiterated his decision to make fun of Pereira’s son in a video that he uploaded to his YouTube channel. He referred to the incident as “a life lesson.”
“I was just like, ‘Where is he? I’m going to find him,’” Adesanya said. “And I see his kid then his sister, I think, was holding them. She was holding them because they were crying. So I was just like, bang!
“‘He’s only a kid!’ I’m like, ‘And the f— what?’” Adesanya continued. “If I had a son and he came to the cage after 287 and then start to do that next to Pereira, I’d be like, ‘What the f— are you doing? Come here. Apologize — apologize to that man.’
“Guy knocked me out in his home country and then you see your kid doing that and you don’t have the discipline to scold him and then again before 281, you’re in your car and you’re like, ‘Look what my son did.’ If you’re not going to teach your kids manners and respect, I will.
“I did him a favor,” Adesanya concluded. “I did that kid a favor. Now, he has a life lesson that he can hold on to forever and just remember that. I’m glad I did it. F— them kids.”