UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Alex Pereira locked eyes and didn’t budge for several seconds as they did their first staredown for UFC 281.
The two shared a few words, and Adesanya motioned to the crowd that his challenge, who defeated him twice in the kickboxing ring, was all talk. The tension didn’t escalate to physical confrontation, however.
The middleweights faced off last following Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference for the pay-per-view event on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Also squaring off was the co-main event between champ Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili. Esparza was roundly booed during the press conference.
Check out full highlights of the UFC 281 press conference staredowns from Wednesday’s press conference in the video above.
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