Ahead of his highly-anticipated middleweight title fight against distinct rival, Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in November, division kingpin, Israel Adesanya, insists either him or the Brazilian will fall to a knockout defeat at Madison Square Garden.
Rekindling their definite rivalry, Adesanya must go through Brazilian challenger, Pereira to land the sixth successful defense of his undisputed middleweight championship.
Twice sharing the squared circle under the GLORY Kickboxing banner, Israel Adesanya suffered a unanimous decision loss to Pereira, before the Sao Paulo native handed Adesanya his first and only ever combat sports knockout loss in a subsequent 2017 rematch on home soil.
The middleweight striking duo shared the pay-per-view portion of UFC 276 just last month to boot, with Pereira earning his shot at gold with a brutal first round knockout win over Sean Strickland, while Adesanya headlined the card with a lacklustre unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier.
Israel Adesanya appears confident his UFC 281 headliner ends with a knockout
Speaking of his excitement to face an opponent who will put him on the back foot and utilize his offensive weaponry, Adesanya appears confident of a knockout at UFC 281 – whether that features himself or Pereira on the receiving end of, however.
“They’re part of history – part of his (Alex Pereira) story,” Israel Adesnaya told ESPN SportsCenter of his prior matches with Pereira. “The judges gave him the nod in the first and the second, he took me out in the third round. Now, it’s time for my story.”
“I’m looking forward to having someone who is going to attack me – who is going to try and finish me,” Israel Adesanya explained. “He’s going to get knocked out or I am, you have to watch to find out.”
During his promotional-perfect stint at middleweight, Adesanya has racked up five successful title defenses against the aforenoted, Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa, and Yoel Romero.