Regardless of struggling a crushing fifth spherical TKO loss to Brazilian knockout ace, Alex Pereira again in November of final 12 months which noticed him drop his undisputed UFC middleweight championship, Israel Adesanya stays a slight betting favourite to lastly avenge his loss to the previous, in an anticipated title rematch this 12 months.
Adesanya, a now-former undisputed UFC middleweight champion, headlined UFC 281 again in November of final 12 months at Madison Sq. Backyard, struggling a spectacular fifth spherical standing TKO loss towards Pereira – a rival from their pair of earlier kickboxing clashes below the GLORY Kickboxing banner.
Previous to the eventual fifth spherical upset loss, Adesanya had largely dominated the proceedings towards Sao Paulo native, Pereira, even virtually ending the challenger within the closing moments of the primary spherical, albeit for a buzzer to forestall a near-certain end.
Chalking up a powerful lead past dropping the second body to the aggressor, Adesanya was wobbled at Octagon fence throughout a fifth spherical alternate, with Pereira pouring ahead and felling the Nigerian-Kiwi briefly.
Smelling blood within the New York water, Pereira pressured referee, Marc Goddard’s hand with a slew of strikes as Adesanya tried to evade – minting himself as the brand new undisputed UFC middleweight champion, inside simply 4 Octagon outings.
Within the time since, Pereira, a former two-weight GLORY Kickboxing champion besides, has welcomed a right away title rematch with Adesanya – with the Metropolis Kickboxing expertise sharing the identical sentiment.Â
Anticipated to share the Octagon subsequent 12 months, Adesanya, who makes an attempt to return to the winner’s enclosure for the primary time as a middleweight in his combined martial arts profession, sits as a present -150 favourite over champion, Pereira, who sits as a +130 underdog double bubble.Â
Debuting within the Octagon again in November 2021, Pereira stopped Andreas Michaildis with a shocking second spherical flying knee, earlier than defeating compatriot, Bruno Silva final 12 months to earn a slot on the July Worldwide Battle Week occasion.
Sharing a predominant card slot with then-champion, Adesanya, Pereira landed his title tilt alternative by snapping a seven-fight profitable run held by Sean Strickland, courtesy of a livid first spherical KO win.
Seeing his undefeated profession as a middleweight in skilled combined martial arts halted in his November loss to Pereira, Adesanya had beforehand secured a powerful 5 profitable defenses of his undisputed middleweight title.
Unifying the titles again in 2019 knockout win over Robert Whittaker, Adesanya then knocked again each Yoel Romero, and Paulo Costa, earlier than defending towards each Marvin Vettori, and Whittaker in championship rematches.
On that aforenoted, July card, Adesanya managed to show in a lacklustre unanimous determination win over Jared Cannonier earlier than dropping his crown to Pereira within the penultimate pay-per-view occasion of final 12 months.Â
Whereas an official title battle between Pereira and Adesanya has but to be formally introduced by the group, the middleweight putting duo are anticipated to land in an enviornment this 12 months in an try and lastly convey a definitive and concrete near their longstanding rivalry.
