UFC president Dana White is expecting nothing less than a spectacular fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira.
Many were underwhelmed by Israel Adesanya’s performance against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. “The Last Stylebender” did successfully defend the undisputed middleweight title, but some fans and fighters were unsatisfied by the five-round “sparring session” they witnessed.
UFC president Dana White didn’t speak to the media at the time, but he was able to give his thoughts on the said fight during Saturday’s scrum after UFC Long Island.
“He won. I don’t know if it was the performance that he wanted to give or that he was selling leading into that fight,” White said of Adesanya. “The other thing is I don’t think his opponent was very aggressive, either. It takes two to make a great fight.
“It’s interesting. It won’t happen in the next fight.”
The next fight that White referred to is likely against Alex Pereira, which Adesanya says is already in the works. And the bossman already has high expectations.
“When you’re sitting here in my position, you can’t give too many guarantees. I could say stylistically, on paper, this should be, or we feel this is gonna be… I f—ng guarantee you.
“I absolutely, positively guarantee you that the next fight that Israel Adesanya fights will be absolutely batshit nuts.”
Pereira, the only man to knock out Adesanya, made himself a frontrunner in the middleweight title race with a first-round knockout win over Sean Strickland at UFC 276, which he also won a performance bonus for. He holds a professional MMA record of 6-1 (3-0 in the UFC).