“I Would Have Probably Waited Longer”- Eugene Bareman Did Not Want “Adamant” Israel Adesanya Fighting Alex Pereira at UFC 287

Ever since his debut in the UFC, Israel Adesanya has been a force to reckon with. However, his biggest rival followed him to the UFC from a different sport and struck him down for the third time in their careers. Brazil’s Alex Pereira proved himself to be “The Last Stylebender’s” kryptonite when he finished him in November 2022 and took the UFC middleweight title.

The pair are slated for a rematch at UFC 287 in April. Adesanya recently came out saying his focus is more on beating ‘Poatan’ than on winning the belt back. However, not all members of Team ‘Stylebender’ are on the same page heading into UFC 287.

Adesanya’s coach and City Kickboxing’s head honcho, Eugene Bareman, recently opened up about the upcoming fight. the coach was talking to Ariel Helwani in a recent episode of ‘The MMA Hour’ where he discussed the Adesanya-Pereira rematch, among other things.

Eugene Bareman preferred to wait longer for Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira 2

Speaking about the rematch, Bareman said, “If I had a choice, which I quite often don’t, then I would probably have waited longer and prepared. You know, just given Israel [Adesanya] a bit more time between a stoppage like that and the next fight.”

If Bareman had his way, he would have taken an entirely different approach. The 43-year-old explained his vision to Helwani, saying, “… in an ideal world, I would have done what they do in boxing. I would have brought in a couple of guys for Israel [Adesanya] to warm up on and then fight. In the UFC we don’t have that choice.”

He also mentioned how Adesanya was hell-bent on facing Pereira next. The CKB founder said, “Quite frankly, Israel [Adesanya] is 100% adamant that he must be the next person to fight Alex Pereira.”

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In addition, Bareman revealed Adesanya was prepared to fight Pereira on 4-5 weeks’ notice, once after the loss at UFC 281. According to Bareman, these events transpired when Jiri Prochazka pulled out of his fight at UFC 282.

Pereira was briefly in consideration for the main event at UFC 282. Despite the loss at UFC 281, Adesanya wanted to fight him again.

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What do you think about Bareman’s statements? Do you think Adesanya should have waited longer for the rematch? Will his obsession cost him? Let us know in the comments below.