Luke Rockhold believes Israel Adesanya has the potential to beat Alex Pereira if he fights well and takes advantage of Pereira’s weaknesses.
Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) will be defending his middleweight title against Pereira (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on November 12, during the UFC 281 main event. Currently, Pereira has beaten Adesanya twice in kickboxing, even scoring a knockout once.
Pereira is a rising star, climbing up the UFC ranks. In only seven professional MMA fights, he managed to challenge Adesanya for his title. Both players have extremely high win rates and different fighting styles, making the upcoming matchup exciting for viewers.
Rockhold thinks that Adesanya’s earlier losses to Pereira were due to the former’s mental state.
“It just depends on how Israel fights. If Israel tries to fight him because (Pereira is) in his head – and if he’s in his head and you let guys get in your head – you know he lost to him in a close one, and then he got clipped in the second one because he let him get in his head,” Rockhold said in an interview with Helen Yee.
He further emphasized that Israel’s best chance of winning relies on controlling the fight and exploiting Pereira’s weaknesses. Pereira’s
“He was in his head. You can see he was in his head. Israel’s got to check himself and he’s got to fight MMA. We all know Alex Pereira sucks on the ground. We all know even Israel could probably f*cking put him away on the ground. This kid is dangerous as hell on the feet, so it all depends on Israel’s head space and how he fights it,” Rockhold added.
Adesanya’s perspective
Adesanya is looking forward to the upcoming fight. He says that even though he didn’t have plans of revenge after being beaten in Brazil, he will take the opportunity to fight Pereira again.
“I’ve always picked the guy no one wants to fight. The guy everyone runs away from, I run towards. So yeah, I run towards the fire, and this is no different.” Adesanya said.
The middleweight champion has beaten everyone else within the top six of the middleweight rankings, which only leaves Pereira as his last target. Another reason he is looking forward to the fight is Pereira’s aggressive fighting style, in contrast to his other opponents who played defensive after the first round.
“… I’m excited to have someone who’s going to attack me. Who’s going to try to finish me. He’s done it before in the past in kickboxing. So for me, it’s like is he going to get knocked out, or am I going to get knocked out? So that’s why you have to tune in and find out,” said Adesanya.
Other UFC figures, such as Bruno Silva and Henry Cejudo, disagree with Rockhold’s prediction. They are not a fan of Adesanya’s current fighting style, dismissing it as “boring.” Meanwhile, they believe that Pereira will have the edge due to his kickboxing experience and more unpredictable fighting style.
“… I think he’s a little more diverse, so for that reason I’m going Alex Pereira by knockout,” Cejudo said.