We are blessed to be on this timeline right now where Alex Periera is a 2 time champ, is setting new UFC records and is one of the biggest stars
But this nearly did not happen. This was so close to not happening, to his night ending in Brazil in 2017.
Israel Adesanya had Alex Pereira all but out on his feet, and it was only the intervention of a hometown ref with a standing 8 count (which was more like 12-13 secs) to let him recover and go onto win the fight.
A detail lost of many casual fans and no doubt shedoggers.
The sheer absurdity of a standing 8 count in that situation needs to quantified. It virtually never happens in pro kickboxing. 99.9% of the time the fight just plays out and ends.
To clarify
- Izzy and Alex have over 100 pro kickboxing fights between them, this is the only time there was a standing 8 count in all of their fights. Every single other time when Alex or Izzy was about to finish an opponent... the ref lets what's about to happen, happen.
Alex is where he is now no doubt due to his size, power, stamina and skill. But lets not forget, he will always be Izzy's son, and the only way he broke free of this was via a friendly local ref back in 2017 - without this, its highyly unlikely we would be where we are now. We may not have had Izzy in the UFC even as he would have rightly been a glory kickboxing champ that night.
And yes you Alex fans will be mad - but fact check what I have stated on the rarity of a standing 8 count in pro kickboxing vs the fight just taking its natural course. It is what it is.
