UFC 287: Israel Adesanya ready for rematch against Alex Pereira

Israel Adesanya will fight in his 10th UFC title fight this weekend when he takes on middleweight champion Alex Pereira. Photo / Getty Images

Israel Adesanya has established a legacy as one of the UFC’s greatest middleweights of all time.

After joining the promotion in 2018, the Nigerian-Kiwi went on a tear – winning 12 of his first 13 UFC fights and collecting the middleweight title along the way; his sole loss in that stretch coming when he moved up a weight class in a bid to add light heavyweight gold to his collection.

But no great story would be complete without an equally imposing antagonist. In the story of The Last Stylebender, that role is played exceptionally by heavy-handed Brazilian Alex Pereira.

Tomorrow afternoon, Adesanya will meet his nemesis again in the headline bout at UFC 287 in Miami with the UFC middleweight championship on the line once more; the Kiwi looking to reclaim his throne at the top of the division after Pereira took it from him in New York late last year.

It will be Adesanya’s 10th UFC title bout since making his debut with the promotion, and the 10th time in the last 53 UFC pay-per-view cards that Adesanya has been the main attraction.

But for Adesanya, this time around will be different. Sunday’s bout marks the first time since he fought Yoel Romero in March 2020 that he has not had a City Kickboxing teammate fighting on the same card as him.

Adesanya feels it was a deliberate move by the teams involved with the fighters of the Auckland gym.

“I appreciate it like this because it puts the pressure on me; it puts the focus on me and the buck stops with me. That’s where I like to be,” he told the Herald.

But as for coming into fight week no longer the champion, against a man he is yet to get the better of and with nothing to lose, Adesanya said that aspect felt no different at all.

“Not necessarily, no. Whenever it’s me, I’m Israel Adesanya. I pull up, everybody looks. The whole show stops. Nothing has changed in that aspect,” he explained.

Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya face off. Photo / Getty

This will be the fourth time Adesanya and Pereira have met across their combat sports careers, and Adesanya is looking to finally come away with his hand raised after coming so close in their previous three encounters. He has shown he can - and knows how to - hurt Pereira and has plenty of tools to give the Brazilian problems, but has so far been unable to put the final touches to a potential win.

It’s a rivalry that goes back to China in 2016, when the two were fighting for kickboxing promotion Glory of Heroes. That meeting saw the pair go back and forth over three rounds. Adesanya looked to be pulling away at the end of the fight, but the judges saw the bout in favour of Pereira, a decision that even he looked a little surprised by.

The next chapter in their saga took place in Brazil a little more than a year later under the same promotion. After a tight first round, against Adesanya began to find his flow in the second and rocked Pereira late – forcing a standing eight count, which Pereira answered and was able to see out the round. Among his assets, Pereira recovers from damage quickly. He came back in the third and final round looking unfazed, and put Adesanya’s lights out with a left hook.

Adesanya had come to terms with those losses and flourished since making his move to mixed martial arts; debuting in the UFC in 2018 and ultimately working his way to the top of the middleweight division late the following year.

But when Pereira made the same move for his career, it appeared the pair were on a collision course again. The UFC matchmakers saw this too, and Pereira was put on the fast track. The imposing Brazilian did his part, too, winning his first three bouts with the promotion, two of which came by impressive knockouts – including a first-round win over Sean Strickland who was then ranked No 4 in the division.

The stage was set for another clash of the titans, and Adesanya gladly took the opportunity for another shot at Pereira. Squaring off at Madison Square Garden in November last year, things looked good for Adesanya through four rounds. He had hurt Pereira badly at the end of the first round – the Brazilian recovering well between rounds and coming back strong when the fight resumed – and took control of the fight in the third and fourth.

Israel Adesanya had the edge early against Alex Pereira in their last fight. Photo / Getty

Everything was going well for Adesanya, but in mixed martial arts one second is all an athlete needs to turn a fight around. That sentiment is particularly true for a fighter who possesses the power that Pereira does. While he looked out on his feet at times in the fourth round, the Brazilian came into the fifth and final round knowing he needed to stop Adesanya and with a clear plan to empty his tank.

But it was a defensive sequence that opened the door for Pereira, checking a leg kick from Adesanya which impacted Adesanya’s peroneal nerve and saw him fall backwards onto the mat before regaining his footing. That impact was enough to compromise the movement of the fleet-footed Adesanya, and Pereira soon was able to back him against the cage, before landing a couple of strong shots that saw his counterpart respond by trying to move away. Instead, Pereira was able to chase him along the fence, putting everything behind his punches to force the referee to step in, though Adesanya appeared to still be lucid and immediately argued the stoppage.

It was a moot point; Adesanya again having victory snatched from his grasp.

After having some health concerns, which he opted not to disclose the details of, addressed in the months following that loss, the 33-year-old returns to roll the dice again against Pereira this weekend; the hunted becoming the hunter with, in his own description, one last chance to bring home the kill.

“People say ‘bring the belt home’ and ‘go get that belt back’ but in my eyes it’s like ‘f*** the belt, I’m going to get his head.’ That’s what I’m here for,” Adesanya said.

“This is my last shot at it, so that’s what I’m here for - I’m here for his head.”