Israel Adesanya is out on the hunt to take out his rival, Alex Pereira, this weekend at UFC 287.
Adesanya had to adjust his mindset going into this bout, he knows he can’t fight the same way he did when defending his title. The Kiwi is looking to take the fight to Pereira and make him fight for his life.
“Honestly, I’m the hunter now. I’ve just been hunting, in every sense of the word, and I’ll make sure I’ll hunt him down when it’s time to fight. My target’s straight on him, nothing else. Anything else, not even him after this, I don’t care. I’m focused on right now,” Adesanya said.
“He knows how dangerous I am. He knows I’m not an easy fight. He knows he’s going to have to go through fire, and I’m going to make him fight for his life in this fight”.
With Adesanya being 0-3 against Pereira, he knows this is his do-or-die moment and his last shot at writing his wrongs. The Kiwi knows that he can dominate the Brazilian but also understands the dangers of what Pereira can do to him.
In their past encounters, Adesanya has shown to have an edge over ‘The Poatan’ but has fallen short to his power succumbing to 2 KO/TKO losses in Kickboxing and MMA. With that being said, however, the Kiwi is confident in his abilities and believes he has made the necessary adjustments to ‘suffocate’ and take out his rival this weekend.
“I know what works for me. I know how I can beat this guy. I know every time I fight this guy, I’m beating him, and then he has this special ability to recover and put his foot on the gas. So, I have to find a way to take him out of the driver’s seat, which I will,” Adesanya said.
“Imagine what if I get it done — what if I get it done better than he’s ever done it. What if I butcher him and beat the f*** out of him. Because I always do, but just ramp it up now, and I don’t let him get any breath, and I take him out, I put him on his back. We’ll find out. I do all this s*** and beat his ass, do some damage to him, it’s like, wow, amazing. Like I said, I don’t keep score, I settle them — and he who laughs last, laughs best.”
