Adesanya: fourth time’s the charm?

The countdown has started for UFC 287, a stacked card with one of the most-anticipated main events, as Israel Adesanya will be taking on the middleweight champion Alex Pereira on Saturday night at the Miami-Dade Arena.

The promotion has hosted many rematches over the years, but the one between The Last Stylebender and the former Glory middleweight and light heavyweight champion will go down in MMA history due to the long story of rivalry and competitiveness of both fighters.

It will be the fourth time that Adesanya and Pereira share the octagon and the second one they meet inside the cage in the UFC.

The Nigeria native will be facing his nemesis in Pereira, as the Brazilian has defeated him in all of their three bouts, with Adesanya’s first two losses being registered while he competed in the Glory Kickboxing promotion.

Hardest training camp ever

In order to reverse things, record his first win over Poatan and get his middleweight title back, Adesanya recently revealed he’s putting in the toughest training camps of his career.

“Best on yet. Short camp but full of discipline. Full commitment, full dedication”, he said.

“I know the work I’ve done. I know what I have to do. I’m going to beat this guy. I can’t wait… I’m going to f**k this guy up. That’s it”, he added.

Adesanya has been training with different kinds of opponents to make sure he will be as much ready as possible on Saturday night:

“I just like to put that pressure on myself, you know, I mean, I fight at 205 too,” Adesanya said. “Yeah, I just like to put that pressure on myself. Also, I don’t like fighting the same people, I want to fight different bodies.”

Wrestling as a path to victory?

Adesanya has proved over the years that his striking is one of the best not only in his division but in the whole UFC.

He was undefeated at middleweight after 23 fights, but he tasted defeat as a mixed martial artist for the first time against Pereira last November, losing by TKO in the fifth round in a fight he was dominating till that moment.

After losing to Pereira three times, Adesanya will have to make some adjustments in his game and come up with the right plan when he meets his opponent at UFC 287.

Henry Cejudo, a former UFC two-division champion, said the Nigerian fighter should work on his wrestling to use it on fight night to get the win.

“Adesanya’s wrestling is super, super suspect. He did have the ability to get up against a lot of people, but when you get a guy who has better striking than you, what are you gonna use? How are you gonna outstrike a guy who beat you three times in a row?”, said Cejudo.

The Olympic gold medalist also pointed to Adesanya’s top control time from his last fight with Pereira as a potential path to victory:

“This right here, control time, tells you so much on how is it that you’re gonna beat the kryptonite, the king right now, Alex Pereira…Like how is it that he’s gonna beat a guy like Poatan who has that strength, that power”.

Will Adesanya follow Cejudo’s advice? That will remain a mystery until both men meet in Miami, but, in any case, what seems sure is that fight fans will end up being the winners of the night.