“It’s Not Really That Big of a Deal”- UFC Light Heavyweight Claims Israel Adesanya Is “Putting Pressure” on Himself Prior to His UFC 287 Bout

Israel Adesanya is hoping to beat Alex Pereira in the UFC’s next big pay-per-view, UFC 287. He will face his arch-nemesis for the fourth time in his professional fighting career. ‘The Last Stylebender’ hopes to overcome ‘Poatan’ on April 9. However, UFC light heavyweight fighter Anthony Smith believes that he is putting a lot of pressure on himself ahead of his next fight.

Adesanya has been putting in the work to claim a victory finally over the current middleweight champion. He has also been active on social media and even shared a motivational message on Twitter as he gears up for his title rematch. Michael Bisping weighed in on Adesanya’s situation in a recent video posted on his YouTube channel.

Israel Adesanya claims the UFC 287 fight was his last shot at Alex Pereira

The former champion recently posted a video on his YouTube channel and mentioned that his mindset has changed since his last fight against ‘Poatan’. He said, “I am hunting. I mean that in every sense of the word.” Adesanya added. “The mindset’s different though. It’s different definitely. I mean Eugene [his coach] and I are on the same page. The mindset is definitely different.”

He also mentioned that UFC 287 was his last shot at defeating the toughest opponent in his MMA career so far. “I like it [getting back at Pereira] because it puts it all on me, and it’s kind of poetic in a way…This is my last shot and I am going to give all I’ve got in every sense of the word.”

Michael Bisping discusses the former champion putting too much pressure on himself

Anthony Smith also joined Michael Bisping on the ‘Believe You Me’ podcast and talked about the UFC 287 headliner. Smith sounded a little skeptical about Adesanya putting too much pressure on himself to win the next fight. He said, “I don’t know that I would if I was him, put too much pressure on myself to make it this huge, I don’t know, huge moment.” ‘Lionheart’ mentioned that sometimes fighters take their fights too seriously, which can be dangerous. He said, “I think sometimes we take fighting way too goddamn serious, and I know it’s serious and dangerous.” 

Anthony Smith mentioned that fighters spar all the time and sometimes they have hard sparring sessions. But he believes that it is not a big deal for Israel Adesanya. But it is a different ball game when competing in the UFC. Smith added, “When you get into the UFC and there’s the fight week (which) starts on Tuesday. You gotta fly in and you sign the posters and sign all your paperwork… It’s a huge production.” He mentions that it isn’t such a big issue. Smith said, “It’s not really that big of a deal. We do the same sh*t every single day in practice. I think by Izzy putting pressure on this (fight)… he’s building that even bigger.”

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While Adesanya has claimed that he wants nothing more than to beat Alex Pereira, we will have to wait and see what unfolds. What are your thoughts on Adesanya vs Pereira 2? Let us know in the comments down below.

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