Does Alex Pereira Have Israel Adesanya's Number? Brazilian Seeks Glory at UFC 281

Israel Adesanya has worn many combat sports hats.

A brief stint in boxing included a defeat of a world title challenger. A decade-long run as a kickboxer yielded tournament wins in five countries and a shot at a high-profile championship belt. And as for mixed martial arts, well, let’s just say he’s off to a pretty good start.

In fact, the fighter dubbed “The Last Stylebender” has won all but one of 24 pro fights, earned a UFC title within two years of arriving at the promotion and has beaten all five foes he’s faced across six full-fledged middleweight title matches—including two atop pay-per-view cards earlier this year.

Still, there is something he’s never done.

And come Saturday night in New York, Alex Pereira fully intends to keep it that way.

The 35-year-old Brazilian will stand opposite Adesanya in the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in what’ll be his first title shot in Dana White’s Octagon. But it's far from the first time he and Adesanya will face off on a stage where competitive violence is on display.

The two went toe-to-toe twice across 11 months in events produced by the China-based Glory of Heroes kickboxing promotion in 2016 and 2017, with Pereira winning both times—first by unanimous decision over five rounds and subsequently with a one-punch KO in Round 3 of the rematch.

A promotion-posted YouTube clip of that KO is nearing 15 million views.

And it’s the mental image, Pereira told Bleacher Report, that has him convinced Adesanya wanted nothing to do with a third go-round that became academic when Pereira vaporized streaking fourth-ranked middleweight Sean Strickland, who’d won six straight, in barely more than half a round.

“We have history behind us,” Pereira said. “And I don’t think Izzy wanted the fight because when I first joined the UFC, Izzy could’ve said, ‘I want to fight him first. Right away.’ But he didn’t.

“Now they’re making all kinds of excuses about me getting a fast title shot.

“He’s just showing and displaying in everything that he’s saying how bad structurally his team is based and how mentally shaky all those guys are now.”

Fighting words, to be sure.

But, like Adesanya, Pereira has the track record to warrant the chatter.

He was a KO winner in a one-time trip to the boxing ring that came amid a 10-year kickboxing run in which he not only went 2-0 against Adesanya but also won titles in two weight classes with the prestigious Glory promotion that’s headquartered in Singapore and holds events internationally.

He became middleweight champion by outpointing Simon Marcus, another Adesanya conqueror, over five rounds in 2017 and defended the belt five times in two years before climbing to light heavyweight and beating Artem Vakhitov by split decision in January 2021.

His penultimate middleweight defense was a KO of Jason Wilnis, who’d also beaten Adesanya.

Vakhitov won a light heavyweight rematch seven months later, prompting Pereira’s full-time move to the UFC that began with a flying-knee TKO of Andreas Michailidis last November at UFC 268 before a unanimous decision defeat of Bruno Silva on a Fight Night show in March.

The KO of Strickland came July 2 in Las Vegas on the undercard of Adesanya’s desultory five-round decision over Jared Cannonier, after which the champ claimed he would put his two-time rival, who’d by then taken a seat in the crowd near the cage, “on skates.”

Pereira, though, is not buying the bravado.

Instead, he claims, the words are residue of a “bad taste” he’s left in Adesanya’s mouth.

“His fight is personal, man,” he said. “If we win or lose this fight, he’s gonna carry on the same thing due to the history that we have, so I don’t think that’s gonna change. Israel tried to become Glory champ. He could not. I beat him and I beat the guys that beat him in kickboxing.

“A rivalry 100 percent exists inside the cage. Outside, on my end, no. I have nothing against him outside. I just do my business. As far as our side, it’s straight-up inside the Octagon.”

Once there, he said, he’ll be ready for any style, though both he and Adesanya have leaned exclusively on their stand-up backgrounds since making the switch.

The champion hasn’t landed a single takedown across 12 UFC wins at middleweight (and one loss at light heavyweight), instead going all-in on a punching/kicking approach that’s seen him land 3.93 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy rate of 49 percent.

He’s absorbed 2.67 per minute for a striking defense clip of 59 percent and has defended 78 percent of takedown attempts, though Rob Wilkinson (3), Marvin Vettori (6, in two fights), Brad Tavares (1), Kelvin Gastelum (1), Jan Blachowicz (3) and Robert Whittaker (4) have gotten him to the floor.

Blachowicz, then the UFC’s champion at 205 pounds, also landed 107 strikes to Adesanya’s 78, making him the only foe to win that category.

Pereira’s numbers only span three UFC fights, but he’s been the busier (6.29 significant lands per minute) and more accurate (60 percent) striker, and his takedown defense is a nearly-as-efficient 73 percent, though he was brought to the floor twice each by Michailidis and Silva.

“It is gonna be different because we’re talking about MMA,” he said.

“Different strategies. Different game. Different possibilities. We’ve got to face this fight as a different thing and I’m gonna be prepared for it. I train for everything. I can stay on my feet. I can take him down. I’m good to do whatever I feel comfortable with on Saturday.

“If it goes the distance, it’s not something that’s bad for me. I always wanted to do three full MMA rounds. I did. Now if I prove I can do the whole five rounds, too, I’ll know it’s something that I’m gonna be doing all the time. If the fight goes short or goes far, for me it makes no difference.”

Adesanya is a solid -205 favorite compared to Pereira’s +175 underdog status with DraftKings, but, to the challenger at least, it’s hard to envision a stand-up fight that goes much differently than the others.

Nevertheless, if Adesanya expects an overconfident foe because of that history, he’s in for a surprise.

Confident? Yes.

But unprepared? No.

“It does play a part, of course,” Pereira said. “But I cannot let it affect me. I can’t just use that as motivation to not do my thing. I can’t just come in, stand there because I’ve beaten him twice, cross my arms and expect to win. I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.”

And if he does it, prepare for an emotional aftermath.

“It’s absolutely a bigger fight than I’ve ever had,” he said. “Talking about fighting for the UFC belt, it’s the fight of my life. It’s absolutely a different feeling. A fight is a fight. I’m used to that and I’ve been prepared for that, but feeling-wise due to the proportion of this fight, it’s totally different.

“It’d definitely be the biggest achievement of my life. Because if you put it all together, how many other guys were able to win a Glory title and then win a UFC belt? There isn’t anybody. But now, how many won a double championship at Glory and the UFC title?

“It’s almost impossible, so that would lift me up in terms of achievements.”

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