Israel Adesanya is going to beat Alex Pereira … eventually!
The former UFC middleweight champion was stopped by the newly-crowned Brazilian in the UFC 281 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which pushed “Poatan” to 3-0 over Adesanya after previously registering two wins against his longtime rival on the kickboxing circuit.
Watch the UFC 281 main event highlights here.
Fortunately for Adesanya fans, it appears the promotion is not opposed to booking an immediate rematch, according to these comments from UFC President Dana White, and the bookies at BetOnline.ag already have “The Last Stylebender” opening as the odds-on betting favorite at -150 (2/3) against +130 (13/10) for Pereira.
That’s not far off from the UFC 281 opening line that had it -170/+145 in favor of Adesanya.
A date and location for their MMA do-over has yet to be established, though I would imagine the UFC 284 card next Feb. in Perth — providing home-field advantage for Adesanya and City Kickboxing — would be too soon for their next go-round. Expect to hear more on this ongoing rivalry in the next few weeks.
For more results and fallout from UFC 281 click here.