Ahead of his third combat sports outing with undisputed middleweight champion, Alex Pereira, former division kingpin, Israel Adesanya has taken inspiration from 2002 drama ‘8 Mile’ – claiming this is his one shot at avenging his prior defeats to the Brazilian at UFC 287.
Headlining the flagship pay-per-view event for the organization, Adesanya touches down in Miami, Florida in pursuit of his second middleweight title reign, undisputedly, as he draws arch-rival, Pereira in a championship re-run.
Drawing his past kickboxing enemy in November of last year atop a UFC 281 card at Madison Square Garden, Adesanya suffered a stunning fifth round standing TKO loss to the Sao Paulo striker, dropping his championship in the process.
And ahead of the ‘Sunshine State’ showdown, Israel Adesanya, who admitted his surprise to find himself place as a betting favorite to defeat the Brazilian – appears to have taken inspiration from the above-mentioned, ‘8 Mile’ for his championship clash with Pereira.
“I’m down two fights [to Alex Pereira] in kickboxing, one fight in MMA, so I’m down three,” Israel Adesanya told assembled media during his availability this week. “And this is like in every movie – your one shot. This is my Eminem moment – my ‘8 Mile’ moment. You get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime, and this is it – this is it for me.”
Seeing his championship reign ending his spectacular fashion in the penultimate month of last year, Adesanya had racked up successful knockbacks over Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker, and most recently, Jared Cannonier during his time as undisputed division pacesetter.
Israel Adesanya welcomes fresh matchups post-UFC 287
Eyeing vengeance against the aforenoted, Pereira at the Miami-Dade Center in Saturday, Adesanya claimed that he would topple the former, before then searching out other opponents to kick off a projected second term in office atop the middleweight pile.