Is Alex Pereira the ‘bogey man’ for Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 287 headliner?
Israel Adesanya has now had enough of the sight of Alex Pereira – the man many call his “bogey” and “kryptonite.”
The former UFC middleweight champion reigned supreme in his division with five straight title defenses before crossing paths with his old nemesis last year.
Pereira arrived with two wins over Adesanya in the kickboxing ring, including a heavy knockout, but many still thought he was sped up for a chance at the champion purely because it fit into a neat story.
In the fifth round of their November fight, he bulldozed those doubts and Adesanya to get his belt.
For four rounds, Adesanya had been the better fighter. He was razor sharp, slick and everything he’s proven since signing with the UFC.
Alex Pereira dethroned Israel Adesanya to win the UFC middleweight championship last year
Adesanya (pictured) gets his chance for revenge as he takes on ‘Poatan’ at UFC 287
Adesanya was knocked out cold (pictured) by Pereira in their second kickboxing match
But he couldn’t cross the line. Marc Goddard intervened late and Pereira threw a flurry of shots and nothing came in return.
The old adage, ‘styles make fights’ applies not only to the quality of the match as a spectacle, but could also explain why Adesanya struggles so much with ‘Poatan’.
A number of current UFC stars think that for all the brilliance of the Kiwi, Pereira just got his number.
Jon Jones recently tweeted, “I believe Pereira is going to win again. Some athletes simply have another athlete’s number.
“He works hard and I’m rooting for him. I believe he’s going to do it again.’
Fellow middleweight Chris Curtis went even further, say to Helen Yee“I actually feel sorry for Izzy, like “Bro, you have your own personal bogeyman”.
“Like, how many times can you do everything right. He was winning the fight, I thought it would have been four rounds to one… he needed two minutes to defend his title, and Pereira is doing it again. Like having your own personal f*****g boogeyman. That’s miserable.’
He then joked: ‘[If] you can’t beat him in one-on-one fights, we have to do a gladiator thing and say stab him or poison him before the fight… If a dude keeps pounding me all my career and I come home looking for you ,’ he remarked. “I’ll handle this with knives, I don’t care.”
Marvin Vettori, who lost to Adesanya twice, agreed: “He will beat Izzy again. It’s just, I don’t know, I feel like he had a mission to beat him.”
Marvin Vettori (pictured) thinks Pereira has Adesanya’s number and would win in a rematch
Adesanya was forced back into the cage as Pereira unleashed a flurry of relentless attacks
It’s also possible that motivation for Adesanya has never been higher.
He will know full well that his legacy will be tarnished if he loses to the same man for the fourth time in two different combat disciplines.
But could that help or hinder him in Miami? Robert Whittaker pondered the same question and thinks UFC 287’s headliner will come down to how Adesanya’s mindset has been affected.
“If we only look at the fight from a mental perspective, I believe Adesanya had a better chance in the last fight,” the Australian said. Michael Bisping on his podcast.
“But saying that, maybe now that the worst has happened again, it clears him up for the next one. You see where it can swing both ways very easily.
“It can go one way where it sets him free: the worst has happened, whatever, he comes into it mentally free.
“Or he’s worried it’ll happen again with the little gloves because it happened.”
Robert Whittaker isn’t sure how Adesanya’s mindset will change for the rematch
Some believe that the Brazilian fighter simply has the best style to beat his old rival
Pereira is still relatively inexperienced in MMA and has yet to be tested by an elite-level wrestler.
But in Adesanya, he knows the fight will probably remain essentially a kickboxing match. The man himself completely agrees with the theory that he simply has the style to beat his opponent.
He revealed that in his amateur days he had a “bogey man” of his own.
“I’m going to say something I’ve never told anyone before,” Pereira told Sportskeeda. I have 28 fights in amateur. I won 25 by knockout. I lost three fights. Three times to the same man. In amateur three fights. I do not understand why. But now I do. The styles do not match.
“The man has stopped fighting,” he added. “If I were to fight him again today, I think I would lose again. Even though he’s done fighting, if I fought him, I’d lose.
“If I’ve fought him ten times, I’ll lose. Adesanya needs to get that, the same way Whittaker did. He just won’t accept it.’
In their first fight, the striking stats for both men were relatively similar.
Adesanya landed 89 percent of his attacks from range, ahead of Pereira’s 83 percent, while the Brazilian was more effective from close range.
They both mixed up goals, went from head to body to legs and kept things unpredictable.
Adesanya is only allowed to make minor adjustments to his game for the rematch in Miami, Florida
The main difference maker was Pereira’s strength and Adesanya’s need to be careful. He outsmarted the Brazilian, but was never comfortable.
That natural shock weight in the hits is what makes him so dangerous and a few grazing rights before a short thumping left last time signaled the beginning of the end.
He will be even more confident this time around and may be more aggressive from the start. Eugene Bareman, Adesanya’s coach, has insisted they don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” and will only make minor adjustments.
Given Adesanya’s superiority through most of last year’s fight, it makes sense. But the nagging doubts remain and only disappear when he manages to beat his ‘bogey man’ on Saturday night.