Dana White Rules Out Israel Adesanya Moving Up to 205 lbs, Gives Major Update on Hosting the Trilogy Between ‘Izzy’ and Alex Pereira- “Seen That”

UFC 287 ended with Israel Adesanya scoring a KO victory over the current UFC light heavyweight champ, Alex Pereira. Well, it wasn’t just another victory for ‘Izzy’. The UFC 287 triumph marked ‘The Last Stylebender’s’ first victory over his archrival Alex Pereira. But, the overall score of the ‘Izzy’-‘Poatan’ rivalry still stands at 3-1 currently in favor of the Brazilian. This may be why ‘Poatan’ chose to call out his old rival once again after his UFC 295 victory.

The UFC 295 main event ended with a bit of controversy. A lot of fans criticized the early stoppage of the Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira fight by Mark Goddard. But none of them will change the fact that Pereira stands as the current UFC light heavyweight king. His in-octagon interview also revealed that he wanted ‘Izzy’ as his first title defense. But UFC CEO Dana White looked skeptical about the fight in the post-fight press conference. Let’s have a look at what he had to say.

Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira trilogy is not the first preference of Dana White

Alex Pereira’s callout guaranteed that Dana White will be receiving questions about the ‘Izzy’ vs. ‘Poatan’ trilogy in the press conference. A question about the coveted ‘Izzy’ vs. ‘Poatan’ trilogy came up to White just within a few minutes from the start. White answered, “Israel’s a weight class below him now. We’ve seen that. Yeah, Jamahal Hill, when he’s ready, is the fight that makes sense.”

Fans won’t be able to see much wrong in this statement from the UFC head honcho. After all, the former UFC light heavyweight champ, Jamahal Hill vacated the title himself as he didn’t want to hold up the division. As someone who appreciates such gestures, it is no surprise White is backing him for the next title shot.

However, another reporter laid even more stress on the issue of ‘Izzy’ vs. ‘Poatan’ trilogy. He asked White what would he say to a fan who wanted to see that fight. The 54-year-old replied, “Listen anything’s possible. Alex moved up a weight class, I don’t see ‘Izzy’ moving up a weight class. But, I don’t know. I’m sure people wanna see it again. But, I don’t know the answer to that question”.

Read More: “I Don’t Know How Far Can I Still Fight” – Alex Pereira Makes an Unexpected Confession on His Future After Clinching LHW Title From Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295

He put out several situations related to what Adesanya would like to do. White said, “Whatever he wanted to do, if he wanted to move up and fight Pereira again we’ll probably do it”. But, is ‘Izzy’ up for it?

Israel Adesanya has already given out his take on his trilogy fight against Alex Pereira

Adesanya has already expressed his views about his trilogy fight against the 36-year-old Brazilian. In a four-month-old episode of Ariel Helwani’s show, ‘The MMA Hour’, ‘Izzy’ opened up about whatever he had in mind regarding a trilogy fight with Pereira.

It was Helwani’s question that got ‘The Last Stylebender’ talking about the issue. He said, “If he wins the belt at 205, I’ll do it again,”. After a short pause, ‘The Last Stylebender’ also revealed, “If not, I think he’s done with it, I’m done with it, everyone else wants to see it, but we’ve moved on. It’s life”.

Well, Adesanya’s condition has been fulfilled now. But it’s the UFC head honcho who isn’t looking pretty keen about the matchup. But White also said, “I wouldn’t say that we would never do it” in the end. These words from the 54-year-old will keep the fans awaiting the coveted trilogy between these two archrivals. If at all, how soon do you think it may happen?

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