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The highly-anticipated grudge match between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira is likely to come to fruition very soon. Pereira has now suggested that he’s contractually entitled to fight Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title next.
At UFC 276 on July 2nd, Israel Adesanya’s fellow former kickboxing star Pereira faced UFC middleweight elite Sean Strickland and won via first-round KO. The UFC 276 event was headlined by Adesanya’s most recent fight.
The matchup witnessed 'Izzy' defend his UFC middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Jared Cannonier. Both Pereira and Adesanya called each other out after their respective fights.
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In the latest edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Alex Pereira provided an update regarding whether he’s facing Israel Adesanya next. Speaking via a translator, Pereira stated:
“Well, do I have a hundred percent sure? No, because I don’t have full control of the situation. But it’s on our agreement. It’s on my deal, on my contract. We signed that the next fight, it is actually for the title.”
Heading into UFC 276, Pereira’s matchup with Strickland was being promoted as a No. 1 contender’s fight. Alluding to this fact, ’Poatan’ indicated that his manager Jorge Guimaraes had previously announced that a win over Strickland would earn him a title shot. Pereira said:
“Actually, Israel just said that on the ring that he wanna fight me.” Noting that Adesanya's aware that he has to fight him because he knows it’s written in Pereira’s contract, the latter continued, “He have to fight me for the title next. It is on the deal. So, he not gonna go and say, ‘Oh, he gotta fight three, four, five more times when he knows that, on the paper, it is that I’m next.”
Watch Pereira discuss the topic at 13:36 in the video below:
Israel Adesanya vows to make his trilogy fight against Alex Pereira “look easy”
Israel Adesanya was defeated by Alex Pereira twice in the sport of kickboxing, once via unanimous decision in 2016 and the other time via third-round KO in 2017. Their trilogy showdown will be an MMA bout contested under the UFC banner.
In an interview with Kayo Sports before UFC 276, Adesanya took a rather stinging jibe at Pereira. During the interview’s ‘Gloves Off’ segment, Adesanya was asked to name the most overhyped fighter in the UFC today. Naming Pereira, ‘Izzy’ promised to make his trilogy matchup against ‘Poatan’ look “easy.” Adesanya said:
"I'm gonna go with Alex Pereira, 'cause I'll make him look easy. Yeah, right now just enjoy the setup fights, enjoy the setup victories, you know? Yeah, that's overhyped."
Watch Adesanya's interview below:
