Michael Bisping recently shared his thoughts on the upcoming middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira.
For the first time, their rivalry will extend to the octagon. They previously clashed in Kickboxing under the Glory banner. ‘Poatan’ beat the New Zealander in both of those fights, with the most recent fight being a knockout.
Giving his take on the highly anticipated title fight, ‘The Count’ discussed Pereira’s aggressiveness during the duo’s first outing. He believes that Adesanya will have to “fight fire with fire.”
Previewing the fight, Bisping said:
“The way Alex Pereira fights, he’s a killer. When he fought Israel Adesanya, he goes forward, he’s very, very aggressive. More aggressive than Izzy. So, you have to fight fire with fire. Izzy has been around the UFC for a long time and he’s got better.”
Michael Bisping added:
“Since he came into the UFC, he’s done nothing but improve. Alex Pereira’s coming into this one, of course, he’s gonna be very confident. He’s got two wins over the man and the last one was a knockout.”
Michael Bisping says Israel Adesanya is “doing the right thing” by waging a strategic fight.
Michael Bisping recently defended Israel Adesanya against claims that his fights have increasingly become boring.
Israel Adesanya last took on Jared Cannonier at the main event of UFC 276 where he successfully defended his middleweight title for the fifth time. While fans praised Adesanya’s iconic stage entrance, they claimed the actual fight was a snoozefest.
In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Bisping backed the middleweight champ, claiming that he is a strategic and technical fighter.
‘The Count’ opined that Israel Adesanya is “doing the right thing” by approaching his fights tactically and said:
“Izzy is getting a bit of flack lately. People saying, “He plays it safe, he’s taking it easy, he’s not taking any risks, he’s not entertaining the fans”. That’s true you know right. It’s not true that he’s not entertaining the fans, he’s not involved in these crazy slobberknocker, back-and-forth slugfest that have everyone going crazy.”
‘The Count’ added:
“He’s a technical fighter, he’s a strategic fighter, he doesn’t take risks. It’s the art of hitting and not getting hit. The reality is you want to be able to put a sentence together when you’re in your mid-50s or late 40s like I am…He’s doing the right thing. He’s winning…doing it in an entertaining fashion.”
Israel Adesanya is all set to take on Alex Pereira for his next title defense at the main event of UFC 281. The event is scheduled for November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
You can check out Michael Bisping talk about Adesanya vs. Pereira in the video below:
