Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu has congratulated mixed martial artist Israel Adesanya after he successfully regained his middleweight title from Brazilian Alex Pereira in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 287.
In the second round of their early Sunday fight, Adesanya knocked out Pereira to recapture the belt he had previously lost to the Brazilian.
Before this bout, Pereira had defeated Adesanya three times in kickboxing and mixed martial arts, but his winning streak was ended when the Nigerian knocked him out in the early hours of Sunday.
Hours after his astonishing victory, Bola Ahmed released a statement to hail the ‘style bender.’
The president-elect tweeted, “Congratulations to Israel Adesanya #stylebender on reclaiming the UFC Middleweight Title. He never stopped believing in himself and we did not stop believing in him. #NaijaProud.”
Also, Sunday Dare, the minister for youth and sports development, shared a tweet to tell the style-bender that Nigeria is proud of him.
The minister tweeted, “Congratulations Israel, you are truly the last style-bender. You have shown that you are a real champion with your positive attitude Nigeria is proud of you.”
After beating his Brazilian rival inside the octagon at the UFC 287 event on Sunday morning for the first time in seven years, Adesanya said, “It’s done.
“He’s had his story, now it’s my story. And I’ve closed that chapter and again, I move on.”