Former kickboxing rivals Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya found themselves in the UFC a few years later, the middleweight title on the line. And the Brazilian won once more despite the dominance of the naturalized Nigerian from New Zealand, as in their former discipline. Focus on a rivalry like no other before the reunion this weekend in Miami in the main event of UFC 287 (live from 2am on Saturday night).
Imagine for a second. You are good at your job. But a competitor who has arrived at your position is doing better than you on two large files entrusted by management. You decide to change employers. And a few years later, the same competitor comes to find you in your new box to steal your place. Each time, you seemed to work more efficiently than him. But each time, he found a solution to win. Welcome to the world of Israel Adesanya and his arch nemesis Alex Pereira.
Between the former UFC middleweight champion and the man who took the crown from him last November, who reunite for another cage dance this weekend in Miami in the main event of UFC 287 , rivalry takes on unique contours. An antagonism that has been running for seven years, with its hunting side. It all started in April 2016 in another discipline, kickboxing. At the Glory of Heros event in China, Pereira gets the first between the two by unanimous decision. Fifteen months later, in July 2017, the Brazilian did it once more with a knockout in the third round – the only one received by his rival in his career before… their fight in MMA – on a devastating left hook.
Like many observers, Adesanya thought he deserved victory over the former. And he dominated the second before being extinguished. Obviously frustrating for the loser… Behind, Pereira will become double champion of GLORY, the great organization of kickboxing, in the middle and light heavyweights. Adesanya, he will say goodbye to kicks following this knockout and will switch for good to MMA (where he had been fighting in parallel pro since March 2012) to win the title of the Australian Fighting Championship a few days later before leaving. begin his UFC journey in early 2018.
But Pereira, who has been cultivating his idea of transition himself since his first pro fight in the discipline in October 2015, is not going to let go despite the distance. In February 2019, when ‘The Last Stylebender’ faced Brazilian legend Anderson Silva at UFC 234, ‘Poatan’ was in his countryman’s corner. A year later, an interview will encourage him to take the plunge. Crowned undisputed champion of the means a few months earlier, Adesanya will titillate Pereira very strongly in an interview with Sporting News Australia at the beginning of March 2020, just before his title defense once morest Yoel Romero.
>>> the film of the previous totally crazy fight between Adesanya and Pereira
“This guy watches all my fights, Adesanya says, and every time he says something like, ‘I beat this guy’. In the end, no one knows who he is. And when I’m a legend, you find him in a bar rehearsing that to try to convince a girl on crack to do things with him.” Eight months later, in November 2020, the Brazilian is fighting in MMA for the first time in four and a half years. Before joining a year later a UFC necessarily interested in the story to be told between the two.
The words signed Adesanya lit a fire. “This interview motivated me so much, admits Pereira in the Countdown of UFC 287 published in recent days. I felt challenged. And when it is, no one can stop me. I had found my new challenge, and that was in the UFC.” With an Adesanya who washed his category, like his two victories over Robert Whittaker, the UFC smelled the right shot and accelerated the trajectory of the Brazilian with only two fights before placing him once morest a top 5, Sean Strickland , in the perfect style for him and which he extinguished in the first round last July at UFC 276.
The appointment is fixed. After two kickboxing waltzes, the third dance will be in an MMA cage. With the title of the means of the UFC, the largest organization in the discipline, even if Pereira only has seven professional fights in MMA. “The UFC knows what it’s doing, smiles Adesanya before their reunion at UFC 281. They gave him the right fights to bring him to me. I expected that. (…) Alex wouldn’t be there without me. I cleaned up my category, destroyed everyone in front, and created the path for him to get to me. Without that, he would have been exposed for his weaknesses long ago.”
Before this meeting, Adesanya explains that he must absolutely win “because of (their) common history”. For his part, Pereira has nothing to lose. A victory for the defending champion in MMA, where he has much more experience, would make sense. But if he shocks the world by beating it once more, he grabs the gold and becomes his rival’s scarecrow for good. The Brazilian with the monster side and the terrifying power plays his part and begins a psychological war to get into the head of the Nigerian naturalized New Zealander. He multiplies the spades once morest him, the room on his training methods. Pereira “trolls” Adesanya, as we say today. The rest is UFC history.
In a boiling Madison Square Garden (New York), “Poatan” lost at least three of the first four rounds, with Adesanya less on the handbrake than during his previous performances and who showed his technical superiority, especially in the grappling phases. and/or struggles, but takes advantage of an injury to his opponent’s leg on a misplaced kick to frame him once morest the cage and put him TKO. No matter how much the former champion played on the imagery of Jigsaw – a fictional character who punishes people for their past bad deeds – in the approach to the fight, reality still led him to defeat once morest the new king of middleweight, his second in MMA career following the one once morest Jan Blachowicz in March 2021, when he moved up the category to challenge the then holder of the light heavyweight champion belt and try to become double champion but ended up being dominated physically on the ground.
Five months later, Adesanya arrives in Miami seeking revenge. Revenge of revenge of revenge, to be exact. With a speech that leaves no room for doubt regarding his desire: “This is my last chance, I’m going to give everything I have”. If he defeats his old foe, “Izzy” will reclaim his belt and can resume his reign over the means. If he loses, while some see him retiring, he might still recover it faster than expected if the huge “Poatan” (he regains regarding fifteen kilos following the weigh-in) goes to light heavyweight like many imagine it.
Whatever happens, Pereira will remain the one who has bothered him the most in the two disciplines in which he shone. Technically the best in the overall MMA palette, even if he does not have the same power to put out a blow, Adesanya has the weapons to finally bring down the Brazilian (who works his ground with his compatriot Glover Teixeira, former midfielder heavy, but still have big gaps in this regard). It remains to be seen how he will psychologically approach this new meeting with the one who has hurt him so much. Fearful? With the fear of seeing the same pattern repeat itself?
“He always thinks regarding it, for sure, he can’t erase it from his head”, launched Pereira before their fight at UFC 281. “We don’t love each other but respect”, had dropped his rival in the cage in New York following his loss. Adesanya, who intends to refute the statistic which shows that the former champions are beaten much more often than the opposite in immediate rematches, does not hide how this shock takes a particular turn: “The belt does not matter. I just gotta beat this guy.” Never three without four or the story that finally tips over to the other side? Answer this weekend. Undoubtedly the end point of a one-of-a-kind rivalry.
