Earlier in 2022, Alex Pereira put a stop to Israel Adesanya’s middleweight title reign by knocking him out in the fifth round. With the duo set for a rematch later this year, ‘Poatan’ already looks locked and loaded to face his arch-nemesis.
In a recent video uploaded to his Instagram, Pereira can be seen engaging in a hard sparring session. Living true to his ring name ‘Poatan’, each of the 35-year-old’s blows sounds as thunderous as ever. The footage ends with the UFC middleweight champion aggressively backing up his sparring partner with a series of punches to the body and the head.
Alex Pereira is scheduled for a rematch with Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 on April 8, 2023, at the Miami-Dade Arena. This will be the duo’s second MMA meeting.
However, both men have faced each other an additional two times in kickboxing, with Pereira winning on both occasions. Interestingly, ‘Poatan’ is the only man to have knocked out ‘The Last Stylebender’, a feat he has done twice.
According to Moneyline for the event, on Betting Insider Journal, the Nigerian-born Kiwi is the -225 favorite over Pereira (+180 underdog) for the rematch, despite his recent loss against the Brazilian.
‘Poatan’ is 7-1 as a professional mixed martial artist with six of his coming by knockouts. He is currently on a seven-fight win streak and is undefeated in the UFC.
Israel Adesanya believes that a trilogy fight with Alex Pereira is unlikely even if he wins at UFC 287
Israel Adesanya is looking forward to winning his old title back in his UFC 287 fight against Alex Pereira. However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ doesn’t think there’ll be a trilogy fight even if he wins the rematch.
During a media event in the lead-up to the UFC Perth card in February, the Nigerian opined that ‘Poatan’ would most likely move up to light-heavyweight soon, and as such a trilogy fight seems unlikely:
“I mean if he wants to stick around we can do it [the trilogy fight], but I have a hunch he’s going to move up [to light-heavyweight].”
Catch Israel Adesanya’s comments below:
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