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A number of Brazilian talents including a few Ultimate Fighting Championship greats voiced their thoughts on the upcoming title fight this weekend.
Atop UFC 287 on April 8 in Miami, Alex Pereira (7-1) and Israel Adesanya (23-2) will collide for the second time in the cage, in their fourth meeting across combat sports. “Poatan” has gotten the better of Adesanya on all three prior engagements, winning a close decision in 2016 in kickboxing, and the second ended with Pereira landing a vicious one-punch knockout. Pereira joined up in the MMA ranks and stopped his rival late at UFC 281 in 2022 to claim the title, and the promotion decided to run it back immediately. Sherdog spoke to several notable Brazilian competitors about this matchup, who all had plenty to share about their countryman ahead of his first middleweight title defense.
Paulo Costa: “Every time they face each other, they are very even,” Costa noted. “Adesanya has the speed in his favor, while ‘Poatan’ has more knockout power. Adesanya was winning the first confrontation until the fourth round. But Alex has a lot of knockout power, so anything can happen Saturday.”
Gilbert Burns: “I imagine if someone beat me twice in jiu-jitsu and comes to MMA and beat me again, I would go to the fourth fight like crazy,” Burns explained. “Concerning that, ‘Poatan’ is more trustable, and has that mind game advantage. But on the other hand, Adesanya is coming to the [fight with an] ‘all or nothing’ [approach]. If he wins that one, [the] UFC will certainly make the trilogy, but if he loses, he will probably not have the opportunity to fight ‘Poatan’ again. I can’t see a favorite in that.”
Vitor Belfort: “That will be a real striking chess match. I think that the three previous wins puts Alex ahead on that revenge, but Adesanya is also a striking master and he showed that by winning most rounds in their first fight. I´ll be in the first row [watching] closely. My bet is in Alex,” Belfort predicted.
Patricio Freire: “They repeated in MMA pretty much what they have done in their previous kickboxing fights. First and second rounds of study and after the third round they come to decide. I believe, once again, the knockout power of ‘Poatan’ will make the difference. I see him hitting his cross punch again in the third round and winning by knockout,” “Pitbull” analyzed.
Caio Borralho: “Definitely MMA is the most passionate sport on earth,” the three-fight UFC vet stated. “Adesanya was winning three out of four rounds. He committed just one mistake in the fifth round and the story totally changed. In that second [fight], we must consider how the weight cut process will impact on [Pereira’s] performance. I see another chess match with both being able to finish the fight [at] any moment. I don’t see favorites in that one.”
Carlos Barreto: “We can’t forget that Israel was winning the first fight clearly until get hit by ‘Poatan’ in the last minutes of the fight. If that cross punch [had] not hit him, we wouldn’t be talking about that fight today. What makes me more excited about that fight is that certainly both studied a lot [of] their mistakes and will bring new weapons to Saturday. The big question is how the psychological aspect of having lost the three previous fights will impact Adesanya’s performance. In my opinion, three wins, [including] two via knockout, means a lot. The fact is that ‘Poatan’ rented an apartment inside Adesanya’s head, and Saturday, we will see it will impact on his performance,” the UFC 15 competitor concluded.
https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/B...Down-Alex-Pereira-vs-Israel-Adesanya-2-189620
Atop UFC 287 on April 8 in Miami, Alex Pereira (7-1) and Israel Adesanya (23-2) will collide for the second time in the cage, in their fourth meeting across combat sports. “Poatan” has gotten the better of Adesanya on all three prior engagements, winning a close decision in 2016 in kickboxing, and the second ended with Pereira landing a vicious one-punch knockout. Pereira joined up in the MMA ranks and stopped his rival late at UFC 281 in 2022 to claim the title, and the promotion decided to run it back immediately. Sherdog spoke to several notable Brazilian competitors about this matchup, who all had plenty to share about their countryman ahead of his first middleweight title defense.
Paulo Costa: “Every time they face each other, they are very even,” Costa noted. “Adesanya has the speed in his favor, while ‘Poatan’ has more knockout power. Adesanya was winning the first confrontation until the fourth round. But Alex has a lot of knockout power, so anything can happen Saturday.”
Gilbert Burns: “I imagine if someone beat me twice in jiu-jitsu and comes to MMA and beat me again, I would go to the fourth fight like crazy,” Burns explained. “Concerning that, ‘Poatan’ is more trustable, and has that mind game advantage. But on the other hand, Adesanya is coming to the [fight with an] ‘all or nothing’ [approach]. If he wins that one, [the] UFC will certainly make the trilogy, but if he loses, he will probably not have the opportunity to fight ‘Poatan’ again. I can’t see a favorite in that.”
Vitor Belfort: “That will be a real striking chess match. I think that the three previous wins puts Alex ahead on that revenge, but Adesanya is also a striking master and he showed that by winning most rounds in their first fight. I´ll be in the first row [watching] closely. My bet is in Alex,” Belfort predicted.
Patricio Freire: “They repeated in MMA pretty much what they have done in their previous kickboxing fights. First and second rounds of study and after the third round they come to decide. I believe, once again, the knockout power of ‘Poatan’ will make the difference. I see him hitting his cross punch again in the third round and winning by knockout,” “Pitbull” analyzed.
Caio Borralho: “Definitely MMA is the most passionate sport on earth,” the three-fight UFC vet stated. “Adesanya was winning three out of four rounds. He committed just one mistake in the fifth round and the story totally changed. In that second [fight], we must consider how the weight cut process will impact on [Pereira’s] performance. I see another chess match with both being able to finish the fight [at] any moment. I don’t see favorites in that one.”
Carlos Barreto: “We can’t forget that Israel was winning the first fight clearly until get hit by ‘Poatan’ in the last minutes of the fight. If that cross punch [had] not hit him, we wouldn’t be talking about that fight today. What makes me more excited about that fight is that certainly both studied a lot [of] their mistakes and will bring new weapons to Saturday. The big question is how the psychological aspect of having lost the three previous fights will impact Adesanya’s performance. In my opinion, three wins, [including] two via knockout, means a lot. The fact is that ‘Poatan’ rented an apartment inside Adesanya’s head, and Saturday, we will see it will impact on his performance,” the UFC 15 competitor concluded.
https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/B...Down-Alex-Pereira-vs-Israel-Adesanya-2-189620
