Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira are set to take the stage as Miami takes UFC 287 this weekend. They are no strangers to one another, as they’ve met three times prior to this fight. Pereira dominated Adesanya while remaining undefeated. Brazilian affiliates Adesanya’s ill luck against him, with a mismatch in their fighting styles.‘The Stylebender’ is face to face with the danger of giving up the bragging rights once and for all as the nemesis clash for the middleweight championship of UFC.
Israel Adesanya
It’s not so long ago that the Nigerian-born held the belt. He has a total record of 23 wins and two losses in his professional MMA career.
After TKO-ing Rob Wilkinson on his entry into UFC, he started his rapid rise to gold. The process was significantly fastened via his victory against the legendary Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva on UFC 234. After defeating Kelvin Gastelum in an unforgettable fight for the interim belt, Adesanya was recognized as the proper contender to be given the title shot. Only eighteen months separated his debut and his bout with the division’s champion, Robert Whittaker.
He claimed the belt via KO against ‘The Reaper’ on UFC 243. After defending his belt on two separate occasions – vs. Yoel Romero & Paulo Costa – ‘Stylebender’ challenged his upper-weight class’ champion, Jan Błachowicz. While The Polish light heavyweight handed him his first loss in the UFC, his dreams of becoming the double-champ were shattered.
After his disappointment on UFC 259, he defended his middleweight belt on three different occasions. Adesanya dismissed the challenges by Marvin Vettori & Jared Cannonier, and Whittaker was also sent home empty-handed once more.
The 33-year-old fearlessly stood inside the cage and picked his competition slowly apart with his god-like striking and masterful distance management. Nobody dared to challenge him until ‘The Poatan’.
Alex Pereira
The 35-year-old Brazilian is a former kick-boxer with a professional record of seven wins and one loss.
‘Poatan’ says that his former opponent Adesanya’s rise in the UFC was the factor that convinced him to make the switch. After his debut win against Andreas Michailidis on UFC 268, he also defeated Bruno Silva and Sean Strickland. With an even shorter path to UFC gold than Adesanya, Pereira crowned himself as the middleweight champion twelve months after his debut.
Match-up
33-year-old Adesanya was defeated once via unanimous decision and twice by the venomous left hook of his opponent. His dethroning was very deep into the UFC 281, as the middleweight championship was not decided until the last round. Adesanya suffered a brief barrage of attacks from Pereira at the 5th, which resulted in a controversial stoppage by the referee Marc Goddard.
Yet ‘The Stylebender’ remains confident in his abilities going into his last shot at ‘settling the score’.
Though he’s not once been able to defeat Pereira, ‘Stylebender’ has every right to be encouraged. In their previous bout, he was only three minutes away from containing ‘The Poatan’ to a loss via decision. He managed to wobble Pereira once, where the bell saved the Brazilian at the end of the first round. Despite the loss, his performance was so convincing that he’s the upcoming bout’s favourite, according to Vegas.
And yet, he’s without the false illusion of safety. He’s fully aware that his free-flowing style can turn out to be careless rather than liberating. Due to ‘Poatan’s firepower, Adesanya cannot afford a miscalculation while managing the distance.
Prediction
Even aside from the possibility of intimidation that’s caused by the previous defeats, Pereira manages to offer a separate dilemma for Adesanya. Pereira’s only loss in an octagon came via a rear naked choke in his professional MMA debut. Yet it’s safe to say that ‘Stylebender’ will look to be the first man that knocked out Pereira.
But as the fight runs longer Pereira will have the chance to pull something outrageous, no matter how disadvantaged he might seem.
In light of this, Adesanya would want to finish the fight as soon as possible. But due to his respect for the opponent’s striking and power, he would want to avoid any wild exchanges while pushing the tempo.
Through his extensive experience,‘Stylebender’ might be able to keep his composure and contain Pereira’s explosiveness to a minimum. And via his un-worldly striking game, Adesanya can set up that one special moment leading to his second term as the middleweight king. My prediction is that Adesanya will win through a TKO.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
