Midnight Mania: Will Adesanya Wrestle At UFC 287? ‘Taking Poatan Down Is Not Easy’

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This weekend (Sat., April 8, 2023), Israel Adesanya will attempt to finally score his revenge on knockout artist Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 287. Pereira has defeated Adesanya three times now, twice in kickboxing and once at UFC 281.

Two of those defeats came via knockout.

One of the big question marks surrounding this fourth match is whether Adesanya will look to wrestle more often. In their last bout, Adesanya found great success in the third round, catching a kick and gaining top position after some clinch tussling. He spent most of the round on top, clearly fatiguing Pereira and landing some decent strikes in the process.

Seeing as Pereira’s knockout threat is considerably lessened from his back, it might make sense for Adesanya to commit more energy towards the takedown. However, Alex Pereira’s longtime team mate and former champion Glover Teixeira doesn’t expect Adesanya to really pursue that route. In fact, he believes it will mostly be more of the same from “Stylebender.”

“You can’t change much. No one will change that much,” Teixeira said (via MMA Fighting). “I think Adesanya will come a bit different, try to enhance his speed and the angles that were working on ‘Poatan.’ We’ve watched that fight a lot here. And he’ll try to get better, and so did ‘Poatan’. He will work on the things that worked for him and explore that, but changing is complicated.

“Adesanya was able to take ‘Poatan’ to the ground with a berimbolo, ended on top and kind of stayed there to win that round, but you’ll wonder if he will try that strategy? He won’t, he’s not a wrestler. He might try to take him down, but taking ‘Poatan’ down is not easy.”

Teixeira wasn’t speaking in dismissal of the former champion. Instead, he emphasizes that Adesanya is likely going to stick to his strengths, some of which did find him success in the UFC 281 contest.

Teixeira concluded, “[Adesanya] won’t fight like me, rushing forward and trying takedowns relentlessly. He’ll be Adesanya. I think he’ll explore his speed, those leg kicks that were working, that jab and cross that landed in the end [of the first round]. He’ll do that. He won’t change much.”

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.