Alex Pereira was not impressed with Israel Adesanya‘s last bout against Jared Cannonier, and promised to make the middleweight champion ‘fight’ when they meet again at UFC 281.
However, a new interview suggests their match may be more cerebral than initially expected.
Alex Pereira spent several years fighting for kickboxing promotion GLORY, where he became a two-division champion.
In a new interview for GLORY leading up to their GLORY 81: Ben Saddik vs. Adegbuyi 2 event, ‘Poatan’ discussed his upcoming UFC title fight. Through an interpreter, he said:
“You guys know me, I’m known to be patient and be intelligent in my fights and I always want to explore that. And this time, more than the previous fights, I’m going to be more intelligent in the fight, and score again.”
While patience and intelligence are never a bad thing for a fighter to exhibit in their fights, many were hoping that Alex Pereira would bring an extremely aggressive gameplan into the octagon against Israel Adesanya.
‘The Last Stylebender’ has been criticized recently for too much patience and intelligence, fighting to cautious decision wins over his last three opponents.
Pereira comes into the cage against Adesanya with a unique perspective on the UFC middleweight champion. The two fought twice under kickboxing rules, with Pereira defeating Adesanya via decision in the first fight, and via knockout in the second. Both bouts were exciting affairs, so fans shouldn’t worry too much about this third clash in the UFC being a dud.
Alex Pereira promises to “give a better show to the crowd” when he fights Israel Adesanya
Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya fight for the third time on November 12, and Pereira has made it a point to promise a show for the crowd at Madison Square Garden.
His comments came following Adesanya’s lackluster decision win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. Following that event, Pereira said:
“It did not excite me, and it did not excite the crowd. I was very sad to see that. I hope when we fight he do a better fight than that. But for sure I am going make him fight to give it a better show to the crowd.”
Pereira’s own fight at UFC 276 ended with an impressive first round knockout of Sean Strickland. Dana White expects ‘Poatan’ to bring that same energy to his fight against Adesanya, whom White says has been stuck fighting tentative opponents.
At the UFC Long Island post-fight press conference, White said:
“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 bats*** nuts.”
Watch Alex Pereira’s full interview with GLORY below: