Israel Adesanya feels he’s moved past Alex Pereira.
UFC 287 this past April 2023 was one of the biggest moments of Adesanya’s storied career. The two-time UFC Middleweight kingpin reclaimed his title with a sensational second round two-punch knockout (watch highlights) of his Brazilian rival, Pereira, putting him on the board in their combat sports series (1-3).
Adesanya’s next bout is expected to take place at UFC 293 on Sept. 10, 2023, in Sydney, Australia. In the meantime, Pereira is moving up in weight to enter the Light Heavyweight waters when he faces former champion, Jan Blachowicz, at UFC 291 later this month (Sat., July 29, 2023). Considering the outcome of their last encounter, Adesanya sees no reason to run things back four a fifth overall time … on one condition.
“If he wins the belt at 205, I’ll do it again,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour. “If not, I think he’s done with it, I’m done with it, everyone else wants to see it, but we’re moved on. It’s life.
“I think [Pereira] might knock him out,” he said of the Blachowicz fight. “We talked for about a good two minutes or so and I gave him some advice on how to handle Jan. We had the same idea, like, he’s going to knock him out, but I warned him, ‘Look, just be careful because he knows your striking is really good so he’s going to be patient with you like he was with me.’ What we expected him to do, he didn’t do, because he’s a great striker. He had the same idea, but I feel like if Jan doesn’t take him out, [Pereira] is going to knock him out.”
Adesanya is no stranger to testing his skills at Light Heavyweight and more specifically testing them against Blachowicz. “The Last Stylebender” tried his hand at becoming a double champ in March 2021, falling short by a unanimous decision. Pereira is the only man to defeat him since.
“If I’m going to bet money on it, no,” Adesanya said of Pereira winning the Light Heavyweight title. “205, I’ve been there, it’s hard. It’s not an easy task. If he wins the 205 belt though and they might give him a fast track like they did with me, then they’re going to have a magic, crazy, f—king epic fight at 205 with me and him. And that will be us for the fifth time. Isn’t that wild?”