Israel Adesanya says his UFC 281 fight against Alex Pereira is personal for him.

Of course, Adesanya and Pereira have fought twice before – both times in kickboxing – with the Brazilian winning one by decision and one by KO. With that, ever since Pereira signed with the UFC many fans have been clamoring for this matchup which will headline UFC 281 on Saturday from Madison Square Garden.

“Yeah,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour when asked if this fight is personal.

When asked why this fight is personal is because of the two losses. He believes this is a legacy-defining fight and Adesanya wants to end Pereira’s bragging rights once and for all.

“It is (just another fight) but it’s personal. This is about me and my legacy, this is about re-writing history, even though it is history and I never chased this,” Adesanya continued. “This is about me re-writing a new path to history and showing people what I can really do. Again, y’all must of forgot. They always forget… This is personal, I’ve said less. He can do all the tennis ball videos and f*****g hoverboard things. But, for me, I’m just like cool, you do you. He has bragging rights so let him do that. But, yeah when it’s time, I know something he doesn’t.”

Israel Adesanya enters the fight coming off a decision win over Jared Cannonier to defend his middleweight title. He’s currently on a three-fight win streak with his lone MMA loss coming to Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. As for Alex Pereira, he’s just 6-1 in MMA and is coming off a KO win over Sean Strickland to earn the title shot. The Brazilian is a perfect 3-0 in the UFC and looks to improve to 3-0 in combat sports against Adesanya.

Are you surprised Israel Adesanya is viewing his UFC 281 fight against Alex Pereira as personal?