Israel Adesanya is in pain after he suffered a horrific injury during scuffle just days before his UFC victory over Alex Pereira

ISRAEL ADESANYA suffered a gruesome knee injury just days before his brutal victory over Alex Pereira.

The Last Stylebender reclaimed the middleweight title earlier this month with a stunning second-round knockout of his long-time rival at UFC 287 in Miami.

Adesanya went into the contest with the weight of the world on his shoulders having already suffered three losses to the Brazilian.

But he was also weighed down by a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee – an injury he revealed in a post-fight recap video on his YouTube channel.

As he watched back footage of a sparring partner’s entire weight collapsing on his right knee when he was taken down, Adesanya said: “Damn! It was painful.

“I said, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK!’ – I just didn’t want anyone to freak out.”

Adesanya, incredibly, toughed it out and continued grappling – a decision he somewhat regretted.

The 33-year-old admitted: “I should have stopped.

“I remember the feeling as well – it was, like, hot. It felt hot, like a burning feeling.”

Physiotherapy and magnet treatment helped Adesanya make it to fight night – in which he didn’t show any signs of having a knee injury.

Fighting through the pain, however, is nothing new for the two-time 185lbs champion – who was compromised going into his UFC debut.

He said: “I’ve been here before. My UFC debut, three weeks out, I did my right ankle.

“I remember the next day calling [a physiotherapist] and being like, “Yo, I need to see you ASAP.” He had to reinjure it or cause pain to it.

“I don’t know, it’s f***ing magic or whatever, but I remember biting on a towel and sitting there in pain.

“Screaming as he’s f***ing massaging my hurt ankle where it’s not supposed to be massaged. So, that’s one.”

Adesanya is expected to return to action early next year against the winner of July’s middleweight title eliminator between former champion Robert Whittaker and Dricus du Plessis.

And The Nigerian-born New Zealander will no doubt be rooting for Du Plessis to get the job done so they can settle their escalating feud – which stemmed from the South African declaring himself the UFC’s “real African fighter”.

He said: “I want to do it in South Africa or somewhere in Africa.

“He thinks they’re going to have his back. It’s only the product of him that’s going to have his back. He doesn’t understand who I am.

“Like I said, he’s created division. I don’t like that. He didn’t have to do that.

“You don’t understand: I’m here now. I’m going to f*ck this guy up. I’m going to torture this guy.

“You don’t have to create division. This is not the time for that sh*t.

“You could have definitely got the fight without talking all that sh*t.

“Well, be careful what you wish for. You got what you want. He’s next. I’m going to f***ing beat him until he’s black.”