Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira will meet for the second time in the UFC and fourth in their combat sports rivalry when they clash in the main event of UFC 287, and as Adesanya aims to break the 0-3 record against his longtime rival, he has released a SAW promo video ahead of the clash.
The fight between “Poatan” and “Stylebender” at UFC 287, on April 8th, will be a rematch of the duel that took place in November, at UFC 281. On that occasion, Pereira knocked out Adesanya in the fifth round and won the middleweight title.
This will be the fourth confrontation between them across combat sports. In addition to the UFC 281 clash, the fighters faced each other twice in kickboxing, with both clashes ending up in wins for Pereira.
In the wake of UFC prez Dana White announcing the UFC 287 headliner, Adesanya released a SAW promo of the fight on his social media.
“In this game, we don’t keep score…we settle them. #insertcointocontinue #UFC287 #wegoagain.” he captioned the clip on Twitter.
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In this game, we don’t keep score…we settle them. #insertcointocontinue #UFC287 #wegoagain 😤 pic.twitter.com/eyDrE3gdht— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 28, 2023
While Adesanya is yet to break the deadlock against Pereira, his coach Eugene Bareman believes that things will be better at UFC 287.
“He’s a guy that builds his gameplan around mentally wearing down and trying to land one big shot,” said Bareman on Submission Radio. “And he’s comfortable giving rounds and then not panicking, because he gives away rounds and it’s part of a bigger picture for him. Setting up what he ultimately is looking for. And with a few adjustments, we can make some changes there and build on a lot of positive things that happened in that fight for us.” [H/T BJPenn.com]
UFC 287 Fight Card:
- UFC Middleweight title fight: Alex Pereira (c) vs. Israel Adesanya 2
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Kevin Holland vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Christian Rodriguez vs. Raul Rosas Jr.
- Rob Font vs. Adrian Yanez
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Chris Curtis
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Loopy Godinez
- Luana Pinheiro vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Nikolas Motta
- Steve Garcia vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Joe Pyfer