As far as Israel Adesanya is concerned, his long-standing rivalry with Alex Pereira is done.
On Saturday night, ‘The Last Stylebender’ finally broke through, scoring a masterful second-round knockout against the man that has been terrorizing him across two different sports for the last seven years. Despite the fact that Adesanya is just 1-3 against Pereira overall, the new middleweight champ is ready to end this chapter of his career and begin anew.
“We closed (the rivalry). It’s done. I’m done with this s**t,” Adesanya stated in a backstage interview following his UFC 287 victory.
“I don’t want to fight the same guy three times in a row, because I have less than 20 fights in this game. I’m 33, I could probably go on for as long as I want to. But less than 20 fights, I think, I have in this game, if I’m being honest. So I just want to fight new faces and take new heads. That’s what I want to do in this game” (h/t Fighters Only)
With the fighters deadlocked at 1-1 inside the Octagon, the promotion would typically rush to book the highly anticipated trilogy bout, but that does not appear to be the case for Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. Aside from their history under the GLORY Kickboxing banner, reports suggest ‘Poatan’ will move on from the middleweight division altogether, saving himself from the grueling weight cut that forces him to shed upwards of 50 lbs in order to make the 185-pound middleweight limit.
Israel Adesanya May Trade in One Trilogy Bout for Another
However, Israel Adesanya may be trading in one potential trilogy fight for another. With little movement made at the top of the middleweight division in the last several months, the likeliest scenario for ‘Stylebender’ is a third fight with former titleholder Robert Whittaker. With his only two losses coming against Adesanya since 2014, ‘The Reaper’ simply makes the most sense at this point.
It is possible that the promotion could throw fans a curveball and thrust undefeated Chechen monster Khamzat Chimaev into the main event spotlight, though rumors suggest that he won’t be back until the promotion heads to Abu Dhabi in October for a potential title eliminator with Paulo Costa.
Until then, Israel Adesanya will sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor and the championship gold it came with.
“Honestly, believe in yourself,” Adesanya said. “No matter how many times you get knocked down, always get back up. Always get back up and fight for what you want.”