By Daily Sports Nigeria on April 8, 2023

Israel Adesanya will be keen to prevent history repeating itself when he faces Alex Pereira in a rematch at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida. This is not the first time the Nigerian-born fighter will be walking into a rematch against the Brazilian and he’ll be desperate for a different result from the last pair of fights.

Pereira’s power saved him in his last two fights against Adesanya. The first came in the third round in a Glory of Heroes 7 kickboxing match, and the second came on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York at UFC 281. Adesanya held a three-round to one lead on all three judges’ scorecards going into the fifth, but Pereira knocked him out in the final round to win again and claim the title.

He’s up 3-0 in their series after he also won his first fight with Adesanya at Glory of Heroes 1 by decision and while he is looking to put an end to their rivalry with a victory on Saturday in Miami, Florida, in the main event of UFC 287, Adesanya is also out for revenge.

“Not many people get the opportunity to show how great they are, to rise to the occasion when all the odds are stacked against them, when people have counted them out,” Adesanya said.

“For me, this fight I feel like the underdog. I feel like everyone’s counting me out. They’ve forgot what I’ve done in this game. They’ve forgot who I am, and it’s time to remind people how great I am.”

Adesanya was beating the Brazilian 39-37 on all three scorecards entering the fifth and final round at Madison Square Garden in New York. Pereira could only win by knockout, and that’s what he got two minutes and one second into the round.

That loss ended Adesanya’s 12-match winning streak at middleweight, one short of Anderson Silva’s record. It also stripped Adesanya of the belt he held since 2019.

“I know how I can beat this guy,” Adesanya said. “I know every time I fight this guy I’m dominating him and beating him, and then he has this special ability to recover and put his foot on the gas. So, I have to find a way to take take him out of the driver’s seat, which I will.”

Pereira accepts that Adesanya was up at UFC 281 but sloughed off a suggestion he was outclassed or in some way dominated.

“It’s not like I got beaten so badly or was dominated. Look at the fight; I was winning the first round, but I got caught at the end with a good left hook. OK, he gets the round, but I won most of it. Was I dominated? Was I totally out-classed? No. The second round, I won. I took him down. The third round, I was winning the first half of the round and there was a scramble and I wound up on the bottom. The fourth round, OK, Izzy won,’’ Pereira told Yahoo Sports.

“Now, the fifth round, was he dominating me (before the knockout?) Of course not. So, this whole thing that’s out there, I don’t understand it. It was a good, hard and close fight between two good fighters.”

It’s hard to see exactly what Adesanya can do differently here. The only change he really needs to make to win is to avoid Pereira’s big punches, but whether he can do that over five rounds is highly debatable.

News Central TV journalist, Chukwunonso Ike-Okoli, believes Pereira has Adesanya’s number and while he thinks Pereira will win the fight, he still holds out hope for Adesanya.

“Personally I want Izzy to regain his title but I don’t know how he will be able to do so. This is a guy that beat him twice albeit narrowly in Kickboxing and then came to MMA and handed Izzy his first loss in middleweight. Looking at the scoreboard we could say that Perreira is 3-0 in two different sports, and yes, Adesanya is a mentality monster and my heart goes out to my Naija brother but maybe, just maybe SuperMan has met his Kryptonite.

“It’s going to be a great fight, I’m going to be scared, I’m going to panic but I think at the end of the day I’ve resigned to my belief that Perreira will retain before he tries to become a double champion by gunning for the light heavyweight belt, although my heart still hopes and prays to hear ring announcer scream Adesanya’s name as the winner after the fight ends,” Ike-Okoli said.

Uchenna Onubogu, a combat sports correspondent at ABS Anambra, said, “Inasmuch as I want to say Adesanya’s chances of getting revenge are slim, I think this is one of those fights that you just have to go with whatever the results you see at the end of the rounds.

“It is already a known fact that Pereira has proven to be Adesanya’s nemesis beating him three times in his career already from kickboxing to the MMAs. It’s quite clear this fight has evolved beyond the professional level and I’m sure Adesanya already sees it as a personal feat which he will try by all means to prove he can beat Pereira at least once as one of the greatest fighters known. It will be tougher than the last meetings and it’s quite hard to say how it will end but I will wish Adesanya all the luck he’ll need.”

MMA faithful, Adeolu Sangobowale, believes if Adesanya fails once more at beating Pereira, he might never be able to again, saying, “Tough one not going to lie, fighting someone who’s beaten you three times. You could argue Izzy won the first one though back when they were in kickboxing.

“Pereira is the only one so far that’s been able to solve the Adesanya puzzle multiple times while also holding a very impressive record of his own. While he has key strengths he can use to beat most fighters, Periera is still very green in MMA. Wrestling is a clear weakness in Pereira’s game and the fact that Izzy who weighed far less than “Pereira was able to take him down further cements that as a huge weakness. He isn’t invincible, Izzy came very close to knocking him out at the end of round one, he can be beat but it’s just very hard to press Pereira knowing he’s capable of putting you away if he lands. Israel has had three fights to figure out what he needs to beat Pereira, if he doesn’t do it now, he probably never will.”

Not much vote of confidence from the fans but even Adesanya has called himself the underdog heading into the matchup and while the pattern he must avoid is clear, since it is easy to see what Pereira’s most dangerous weapon is, stopping it is a different conversation entirely but the result of failing is undeniable; another loss for Adesanya, and perhaps the close of his chapter at middleweight.

Source Punch Ng

Posted April 8, 2023

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