Marvin Vettori claims he wants Alex Pereira to knock out Israel Adesanya when previewing their upcoming bout at UFC 281
Marvin Vettori’s resentment towards Adesanya amuses fans and it made for an entertaining press conference at UFC 263. However, the Italian has genuine animosity towards the ‘Last Stylebender’, and he made it clear when asked by reporters to preview his fight against Alex Pereria.
The former number. 1 ranked kickboxer in the middleweight and light heavyweight division, Pereira’s style is the kryptonite to Adesanya’s unprecedented reign. If experts are to be believed, Pereira poses the biggest threat to Adesanya, having defeated him twice under kickboxing rules in the past.
The Brazilian faced his biggest test so far in MMA against Sean Strickland and passed with flying colors. While Strickland decided to keep the fight in boxing range worried by Poatan’s kicks, the Brazilian landed a vicious left hook faking a level change. With this victory, he is well in the conversation to fight Adesanya for the title.
Vettori has fought Adesanya twice in the past, and has lost twice to the middleweight champion He is set to face Robert Whittaker in this weekend’s co-main event at UFC Paris.
The Italian previewed Adesanya’s fight against Pereira by saying, “I want Pereira to win just because it would excite me more as the next challenger, eventually. And I think that will happen because after this, I’m going to establish myself as the No. 1 contender. I mean, what’s left for me? I’ve pretty much fought everybody, and I think it will be undeniable, another title shot with a great performance against Whittaker. Adesanya, it’s over.”
Vettori said at UFC Paris media day: “Nothing excites me about that guy. Of course, I’ll get my win against him before I’m done with all this, but the things that he can do best – now he’s painting his nails. I definitely like more Pereira and the way he carries himself and the way he goes about fighting and all that, not much bullst, just straight, bad motherf**r type of thing, and that’s it.”
What happened the two times Alex Pereira fought Israel Adesanya in kickboxing?
“Poatan” defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, winning a 2016 decision in China, and landed a left hook for a vicious, memorable knockout in their rematch, the following year in Brazil. Currently, with just one fight old in the UFC, Adesanya has dismissed talks of the fight in the near future, labelling it as ‘ a bit premature’. Adesanya even said in the past that his loss came because he got too comfortable in the boxing range, and he is a much more transformed fighter.
Israel Adesanya has been reigning supreme in the UFC middleweight division. He has not only built a credible body of work inside the octagon, but also emerged as one of the biggest superstars in the game right now, and the second-highest-paid fighter in the UFC. With a visible lack of viable options, he is most likely to square up against Jared Cannonier, in the quest for his fifth title defense.
Brazilian kickboxing phenom, Alex Pereira encountered Adesanya twice in the kickboxing terrain and emerged victorious twice. Pereira’s first encounter with Adesanya came in April 2016 at Glory of Heroes 1. ‘Poatan’ outperformed Adesanya to earn a unanimous decision victory after three rounds.
A year later, the competitors met again – at Glory of Heroes 15. The rematch proved to be a more decisive win for Pereira. After some initial success inside boxing range for Adesanya, the ‘Stylebender’ fearlessly stepped inside Pereira’s range continually. Pereria landed a perfectly calculated left hook, as soon as Adesanya moved inside range after landing the left high-kick, which knocked him out cold.
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