Could an Adesanya vs. Pereira title fight happen sooner rather than later? ‘The Last Stylebender’ isn’t saying, but he did reveal a date had been set.
Israel Adesanya is wasting no time setting up his next middleweight title defense against Alex Pereira.
Both Adesanya and Pereira just competed at UFC 276 on July 2nd. But considering both of them came out of their respective wins relatively unharmed, we could see the two former kickboxers battling it out in the Octagon sooner than one might think.
In a new twenty-five minute interview on Izzy’s FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube account, Adesanya confirmed he was fighting Pereira next and teased a date for the scrap.
“Yes. When do I want it? We’ve got a date,” he said. “We’ve already sussed it out, we’re already planning, we’re sussed with it.”
With the UFC’s pay-per-view schedule only booked up to UFC 278: Usman vs. Edwards 2 in August, there’s a number of shows without a main event an Adesanya vs. Pereira fight could sit.
UFC 279 goes down on September 10th, and UFC 280 is on October 8th. UFC 281 is the UFC’s big Abu Dhabi card on October 22nd, and then we’re expecting a stacked return to Madison Square Garden in New York sometime early November.
Given Adesanya dissatisfaction with his ‘off night’ against Cannonier, it could be sooner rather than later.
“For me, I’m like, I just know I could have put him away in spectacular fashion,” Adesanya said in the same interview. “And it’s just like ‘f—k!’ It’s not even about people, but I hate eating my own words. I’m like ‘F—k!’ I won the fight, it was a good fight, I just hate, ‘Uuugh, I could have done better.’ And I did, I put everything I could, but I could have done better.”
Alex Pereira comes into his title fight against Israel Adesanya with a unique history: he holds two wins over the champion from back when they were both competing in kickboxing. One was a decision win, and then several months later he knocked Adesanya out cold. It would be Izzy’s last kickboxing bout before focusing full-time on mixed martial arts.
?? Throwback Thursday….. 2017!
Alex Pereira KO’s Adesanya :
Glory of Heroes: Shenzhen pic.twitter.com/wtnDTRmlfT— Mikey Thomas (@MikeyThomas1991) January 7, 2021
For his part, Pereira sounds eager to prove what he can do against Adesanya in the Octagon.
“He’s going to have to look better next time,” Pereira said through a translator at the UFC 276 post-fight press conference. “If he looks like that, it’s no good. He’s been watching my development. He knows I’m dangerous, he knows the risk he would be taking. He will have to look better, for sure. He’ll look better and I’ll make him get the fans thrilled.”