Israel Adesanya puts his UFC middleweight title on the line this weekend. Photo: Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC
Israel Adesanya puts his UFC middleweight title on the line this weekend. Photo: Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC
Rivalries are ingrained in the heart of sports.
While fans love to watch their chosen code at every opportunity, factors like rich history, controversial past results, or proximity of teams/athletes see rivalries take on an added weight.
Rivalries can be found across the sporting realm. Baseball has the Boston RedSox and the New York Yankees. American Football has the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Boxing had Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Football has far too many to list. They pique the interest of even the most casual of fans, with the storyline behind each game capturing the imagination.
At UFC 281 in New York City on Sunday, Israel Adesanya walks into his main event spot for a bout with a history unlike any he has had before.
Adesanya will put his UFC middleweight title on the line against Brazilian Alex Pereira, who has been fast-tracked by the promotion for this very moment.
With just seven professional mixed martial arts bouts to his name — the last three of which have been in the UFC — a quick glance at his 6-1 record might suggest a title shot now is a bit premature. A further look at his kickboxing record, which shows a 2-0 record against Adesanya including a win by knockout, and it makes a bit more sense.
There is history between the two fighters, and the latest chapter is set to play out at Madison Square Garden — one of the most iconic venues in combat sports history — for what will be Adesanya’s biggest fight since he knocked out Robert Whittaker to unify the middleweight championship in 2019.
Alex Pereira claimed a first-round knockout win over Sean Strickland at UFC 276. Photo / Getty Images
Their first two bouts were highly competitive. In the first, they went back and forth across three rounds, before the judges awarded a controversial decision win to Periera; even Periera looked surprised to hear himself called out as the winner.
There was no such controversy in the second bout though. Again, the two were competitive, but Adesanya began to take over in the second round. He drew a standing eight-count on Pereira, and looked on the verge of finishing the bout but ran out of time in the round. Pereira came back strong in the third, and caught Adesanya with a left hook to get the win — no judges required. He has brought that same knockout power into MMA with him, with five of his six wins coming in that fashion.
This next chapter is one many fans of the sport didn’t think would ever be written when Adesanya committed to mixed martial arts full-time. But after the UFC signed Pereira on the back of one fight in his return to MMA from a four-year hiatus, the pen went back into the ink.
Five years on, the two will meet again under a different set of rules, with longer rounds and less padding in the gloves.
“I want to make it a horror movie,” Adesanya said in an interview on his YouTube channel, Freestylebender.
“I’ve accepted this is going to be a gruelling fight, but I know who I am; I know the darkness I can endure.”
Not only it is going to be a massive event for Adesanya, but for New Zealand MMA as well. Adesanya will be joined on the card by three teammates from Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym.
Light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg will kick the event off, with lightweights Brad Riddell and Dan Hooker in the featured prelim and the first fight on the main card respectively.
