The former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is in for the fight of his life as he faces his rival Alex Pereira, the UFC middleweight champion, this weekend at UFC 287.
Adesanya has said that this fight will be his redemption story and an interesting twist to his legacy. The Kiwi is steadfast in moving forward despite losing to Pereira on three occasions across Kickboxing and MMA rulesets. Adesanya’s mindset has changed, he is hunting to reclaim the title and put an end to ‘The Poatan’.
“I’m hunting, and I mean that in every sense of the word. The mindset is different, definitely. Even Eugene and I are on the same page. The mindset is definitely different,” Adesanya said on his YouTube Channel.
“I like it because it puts it all on me, and it’s kind of poetic in a way. One life: Roll the dice. This is my last shot, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got in every sense of the word.”
Although the City Kickboxing fighter is 0-3 against Pereira, Adesanya has shown that he’s the more technical fighter. However, he needs to fight the perfect fight to avoid the power of Pereira. During their first encounter in the octagon at UFC 281, the Kiwi was ahead on the scorecards and even gave the Brazilian a rude awakening at the end of round 1. But, the former champ fell short in round 5 succumbing to a TKO loss.
Very few champions have been able to accomplish what Adesanya has done in the middleweight division. The Kiwi has made it a mission to write his legacy and cement it in the history books. With 6 title defences on his resume, Adesanya was on his way to surpassing Anderson Silva’s record and becoming the greatest middleweight of all time.
But if the former champ can conquer his rival, he will be making UFC history and be among the very few fighters (3-12) winning back their titles in immediate rematches.
