Glover Teixeira on Alex Pereira signing with UFC: “Adesanya must be praying”

Glover Teixeira has given his thoughts on Alex Pereira finally signing with the UFC – and why Israel Adesanya should be afraid.

The Brazilian kickboxer, who holds a 3-1 professional mixed martial arts record, is set to debut for the UFC at Madison Square Garden later this year in one of the most anticipated middleweight introductions in recent memory.

Back in his days with GLORY we saw Pereira fight and defeat Adesanya twice with the latter of the two contests ending in a vicious knockout.

Teixeira, who has a lot of experience working with Pereira, noted during an interview with MMA Fighting that he thinks his fellow countryman could still cause the current 185-pound champion all kinds of problems.

“Daddy’s in the UFC,” Teixeira said. “Adesanya doesn’t wanna talk about it, ‘This guy is just getting here,’ but he knows it’s a tough one for him. No one gives Adesanya more trouble at 185 than him. I’m not saying he’s going to win, it’s another fight, another time, another style, but Adesanya must be praying, ‘For the love of God, put someone like Phil Davis for this guy.’”

“He hits your right rib and the left rib hurts,” Teixeira laughed. “Adesanya is no match for him. First of all, he’ll be coming in sh*t-scared. [Pereira] knocked him out with 10-ounce gloves. With four-ounce gloves on his hand now… And Adesanya doesn’t have the knockout power Poatan has. He’s f*cking good, don’t get me wrong, Adesanya is awesome, but he doesn’t hit like him. Adesanya hits like a normal guy, Poatan is not normal.”

Quotes courtesy of MMA Fighting

Is there a chance Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya could meet for the UFC middleweight championship at some point in the future? Let us know your thoughts on this rivalry down in the comments, BJPENN Nation!