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Israel Adesanya isn't among those who shy away from daunting challenges. Having single-handedly run through almost the entire middleweight division, Adesanya has arguably earned the right to call his shots or cherry-pick potential future opponents.
Instead of using this apparent privilege to pick stylistically suited opponents for himself, Adesanya prefers fighting the best middleweights on the planet. In his next fight, the Nigerian-born Kiwi takes on a man who has beaten him twice in the past and happens to be the only man to ever knock 'The Last Stylebender' out in a fight.
Adesanya will fight Alex Pereira in the headliner of the upcoming UFC 281 pay-per-view (PPV), which will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 12.
While Adesanya didn't initially have revenge on his mind after losing two fights against Pereira, he believes that the universe has presented him with the opportunity to earn redemption at UFC 281. During a recent interaction with ESPN MMA, Israel Adesanya said:
"Have I ever shied away from a fight? I've always picked the the guy no one wants to fight. The guy everyone everyone runs away from, I run towards, so yeah I run towards the fire and this is no different and again, after he beat me you know, in Brazil, I never had any plans of trying to get revenge or anything like that because I don't hold on to things. I let go of things but again I'm telling you the universe has presented this to me and it's right there. It's the perfect alley-oop and I'm gonna slam this."
Watch the full interview with Adesanya below:
Israel Adesanya explains why his upcoming fight will be much different than his last fight
Israel Adesanya believes that his upcoming clash with Alex Pereira will be anything but boring. Adesanya received a lot of criticism for his lukewarm performance in the unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276.
Adesanya admits that his last fight wasn't exciting, but what's also true is that it takes two to tango and Cannonier didn't seem willing to engage. Pereira, on the other hand, is a dangerous knockout artist and is likely to take the fight to Adesanya. That's when 'The Last Stylebender' feels he will perform at an optimum level.
The fact that he's been beaten by Pereira twice in the past also adds more intrigue to the fight. During the same interview, the reigning middleweight champion said:
"It's hard to fight someone when they want to survive rather than try and take the fight so yeah I did what I did, I beat him up. I could have done it worse but yeah, for me this fight, the difference is this guy is not gonna be gun shy. He's gonna come at me from bell to bell and I'm gonna do the same and every time someone brings a fight I raise the bar."
