Tyson Pedro opens up about his bond with ‘brother’ Israel Adesanya: He’s a beautiful soul
In the MMA world, it is very rare you form bonds with other fighters that last for a long time. For Tyson Pedro, he found a ‘brother’ for himself in the form of the UFC Middleweight Champion, the Last Style Bender, Israel Adesanya.
Pedro has been working alongside Adesanya over the past few months as both men prepared for their bouts at UFC 293.
The Last Style Bender will defend his crown against Sean Strickland in the main event, while Pedro will also be on the main card in a Light Heavyweight bout against Anton Turkalj.
While they have been partners in training, Pedro reveals how Adesanya came to his aid during one of the low points in his career. Following the loss at UFC 284 to Modestas Bukauskas, the 31-year-old was subjected to a lot of online abuse.
Pedro revealed how Adesanya actually came to help him during that time and showed him how to deal with the abuse online. The Light Heavyweight believes that it is up to the fighter to fend off the energy from the people online, be it with their positive or negative comments.
“Israel Adesanya actually helped me out a lot with it. Uh, he, um I spoke to him a lot about it, and he’s because he obviously receives a lot. Quite a lot of hate as well. And we just spoke about it, uh, two days ago. And the screens were a bit too personal because it was personal messages. But he just showed me how he deals with it. And, it’s a similar way of how I deal with dealt with it afterward. Because it was the first time I’ve dealt with hate and, uh, you know, it’s part of the sport.
“With this social media and this new age, everyone gets to say, you know, everyone can become a journalist pretty much now like everyone gets to say what they think. And, it’s part of the game. But everyone’s giving, giving you their energy, whether it’s positive or negative. So it’s how you turn it, how your perspective of it is, and how you can turn it around and use it in a fight. So, whether they wanna see you get knocked out or whether they want you to knock out your opponent, they still wanna watch,” said Pedro.
When talking about Adesanya as a person outside the octagon, Pedro is beaming with pride, talking about his brother, who he feels is a beautiful soul. The 31-year-old does feel that the Last Stylebender is someone who is misunderstood.
“We all have that alter ego that we go into like I go into. And I got that from Izzy as well. He goes into the last style bender. We create this alter ego, but, outside of it, we’re brothers, man. Like, I love that guy. He’s a beautiful soul. He’s a beautiful person. Like, he’s you’d think sometimes with someone that gets that big and that famous, that he would forget about the other guys.”
“And it’s really cool to watch how he whether it’s the first guy coming up at the gym. He supports the gym, He supports everyone. And, I think, you know, like, misunderstood. Like a lot of a lot of people. Just see that and, you know, people base opinions off of what they see or, and like, they make up in their head they don’t see who he is. Behind the scenes, they don’t see who we are. Like, no one knows anyone, right? Like, No one really knows me.”
“It’s the same as Israel. No one knows anyone. They just see what they want to see and make up a story in their head,” said Pedro.
So would Pedro be ready to fight his brother Adesanya inside the octagon?
The Australian quickly shut down the suggestion, first with a hilarious take. Pedro went on to state he would never fight anyone from their gym, especially his brother Adesanya.
“No. Never in my life. Probably because he whoop my ass. There’s two things. Oh, actually, he’s gone up to light heavyweight one. I would never make middleweight two. That’s my brother. It’s like I would never fight. I would never fight anyone from our gym. There’s absolutely no reason for me to fight any of my brothers,” said Pedro.
Watch the LIVE coverage of UFC 293: Israel Adesenya vs. Sean Strickland on 10th September 2023 on Sports Ten 1, Sony Sports Ten 3 (Hindi) & Sony Sports Ten 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels at 7.30 am IST.
Catch Somesh Kamra & Arjun Chipalkatti on the Ultimate Guide to UFC 293 which kicks off with the live Pre-Show at 6.30 am IST & live post-show at 11.30 am IST on Sports Ten 1, Sony Sports Ten 3 & Sony Sports Ten 4 channels.