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UFC middleweight contender Marvin Vettori would rather face Alex Pereira for the middleweight title than Israel Adesanya again in a trilogy bout.
'The Italian Dream' is set to face former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC Paris this weekend. Like his opponent, Vettori has a checkered history with 'The Last Stylebender', facing the Nigerian-New Zealander on two occasions but coming up short on the scorecards in both.
Vettori, the joint No.2-ranked middleweight, has continued to fire shots at the middleweight champ by hoping that Pereira will get the job done at UFC 281 later this year.
Speaking at UFC Paris media day, the 28-year-old suggested that 'Poatan' carries himself much better than Adesanya does:
"The things that he [Israel Adesanya] can do best now is painting his nails. I definitely like more Pereira, the way he carries himself and the way he goes about fighting. Not much bullsh*t, straight bad motherf*cker type thing, I like him."
Pereira and Adesanya have a rivalry that dates back to their days as professional kickboxers. The Brazilian fought the Nigerian-New Zealander on two occasions, winning the first via unanimous decision and the second through a stunning left-hook KO.
Pereira's finish over Adesanya remains the only time 'The Last Stylebender' has ever been finished across both his MMA and kickboxing careers.
Catch Vettori's media day appearance here:
Chael Sonnen wonders whether Israel Adesanya would get an immediate rematch against Alex Pereira if he loses
Israel Adesanya is yet to lose in the middleweight division. The 33-year-old is on a 12-fight winning run at 185lbs, which includes five successful title defenses.
Despite the champ's accomplishments in the octagon, Chael Sonnen has questioned whether or not Adesanya will be rewarded with an immediate rematch if he were to lose his upcoming UFC 281 title defense against Alex Pereira.
Discussing the middleweight title bout on his channel, Sonnen wondered if 'Poatan' would even entertain the idea of giving Israel Adesanya a rematch, considering he'd lead the head-to-head 3-0 if he was victorious:
"If Adesanya loses to Pereira, history says the great who went down gets a rematch. Hold on, you're forgetting, that score will be 0-3... if Pereira was to bring this to everybody's attention and say 'I don't want to fight, I'm done with him... I've beaten him three times at the same thing.'"
'The American Gangster' added:
"I'll give you a point of where this happened. It was the 'Bullet' [Valentina Shevchenko] vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk and they had fought and the 'Bullet' got her and it was a very good, it was a very exciting match and I thought that Joanna had earned her way back... there was a backstory that they had kickboxed twice and that the 'Bullet' had won them both. That hurt Joanna."
Catch Chael Sonnen's full video here:
