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‘Stylebender’ Israel Adesanya might just be the greatest Middleweight fighter that the UFC has ever had. His impressive UFC record stands at 24-2-0. His first UFC loss came when he tried to move up a weight class – to the Light Heavyweight division. Then he moved back down to the Middleweight division where his perfect clean sheet was besmirched by his old rival, Alex Pereira.
When Adesanya moved up to the Light Heavyweight division, he had a perfect undefeated record. However, his fight against Light Heavyweight menace Jan Blachowicz proved to be too much for him. Now, it seems both his formal rivals have decided to fight in the Light Heavyweight division as Alex Pereira is scheduled to fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 at the co-main event.
Israel Adesanya’s Warning to Alex Pereira
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Adesanya has fought both Jan Blachowicz and Alex Pereira. Pereira is the only Middleweight fighter to have defeated Israel Adesanya. On the other hand, Jan Blachowicz is the first fighter to stop Adesanya’s undefeated streak.
The co-main event at UFC 291 is the Light Heavyweight contest between Alex Pereira and Jan Blachowicz, where Alex Pereira is the fighter who has decided to take the fight to Blachowicz.
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 10: Israel Adesanya of New Zealand is introduced prior to his middleweight bout against Anderson Silva of Brazil during the UFC 234 at Rod Laver Arena on February 10, 2019 in the Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
On the latest episode of FREESTYLEBENDER, on YouTube, the Middleweight fighter gave his two cents on the fight between the two. Although he has lost fights to both, Adesanya seemed poised and excited about the match proving that he is a true fan of the game.
“I can’t say if I… I’m not his f*****g psychic, I don’t know and I… we’re gonna find out only he knows – he knows the answer. And he wouldn’t take this fight if he wasn’t ready.“, said Adesanya, talking about Alex Pereira.
Pereira and Adesanya have met thrice in total, out of which, Adesanya has won two bouts. It seems that the two fighters have left their animosity behind and called it a truce. In fact, Adesanya said he even offered advice to Pereira. “And even though I’m talking to him when I’m at the airport I just… we had the same idea of how this fight will go. But I warned him just to watch out because you might expect him to do what we expect him to do and he might not do it because he knows of the power that he has.“, recalled Adesanya.
Adesanya explicitly mentioned that he is looking forward to this exceptional matchup between the two giants. Since both these fighters have very different fighting styles. Pereira will most definitely be looking for critical strikes while Blachowicz will try to take the game to the mat.
“But for me, stylistically, it’s an exciting matchup. I’m excited. These are two guys I’ve fought. Two guys have both beat me. For me, it’s interesting to see, okay how does that matchup play into each other, so…“, said the Stylebender.
Israel Adesanya’s next fight isn’t du Plessis? Welcome to Strick-land!
Adesanya might be excited about the Pereira vs. Blachowicz fight but he has plenty to worry about at the moment. Dricus Du Plessis and Adesanya might have been beefing for a while over ‘lineage’ and ‘heritage’. The verbal feud soon turned personal and then quickly turned nasty. When Du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290, Adesanya confronted him and the two seemed like they wanted to have a go at each other. However, last-minute changes were made and UFC President Dana White announced that Israel Adesanya’s next fight will be Sean Strickland.
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June 11, 2023, New York, New York, USA: Israel Adesanya attends the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival: Stylebender World Premiere at Village East Cinema in New York. New York USA – ZUMAp281 20230611_zea_p281_083 Copyright: xPhotoxImagexPressx
After defeating his last opponent, Abus Magomedov, Strickland thought he had at least two or three fights in him before he was awarded a title shot. Now that Du Plessis has been ‘robbed’ of his title shot, does it bring Jared Cannonier into the title equation? How does this all play out for the champ?
Dive Deeper – Alex Pereira Reveals Mindset Before Facing Experienced Israel Adesanya in MMA Fight
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