What color shorts will Israel Adesanya wear at UFC 287? 'The Last Stylebender' set to opt for new hue for Alex Pereira rematch

Israel Adesanya is all set to face off against Alex Pereira in an attempt to regain the UFC middleweight title this weekend in the headline bout of UFC 287.

In his quest to regain the title he lost at UFC 281 last year, Israel Adesanya is seemingly leaving no stone unturned. One of the changes he appears to have made for his upcoming rematch with ‘Poatan’ is the attire he’ll be sporting inside the octagon.

According to a recent Twitter post from the UFC, ‘The Last Stylebender’ will be sporting royal blue trunks with a black trim for this fight, marking a move away from his previous color scheme.

Previously, Adesanya has primarily worn four different styles of trunks inside the octagon.

For his early bouts, he wore either gray or black trunks, and after claiming the UFC middleweight title from Robert Whittaker in 2019, he switched to the ‘champions colors’ of black and gold.

In his two most recent fights, though – which saw him defeat Jared Cannonier and then lose to Alex Pereira – Adesanya sported green, white and black trunks.

According to reports, the reason for this was because ‘The Last Stylebender’ was looking to pay tribute to his Nigerian heritage by wearing the colors of the flag of Nigeria.

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Why has Israel Adesanya decided to switch to blue trunks for his upcoming rematch with Alex Pereira?

Quite why Israel Adesanya has chosen to wear blue trunks for his rematch with Alex Pereira this weekend is not currently known.

An educated guess could be that Adesanya’s training camp at the City Kickboxing gym is based in Auckland, New Zealand, and the primary color of the New Zealand flag is blue.

UFC fighters have a choice of a number of color combinations to wear inside the octagon, although the promotion’s fight wear guidance restricts them in some areas.

Fighters may only wear attire produced by the UFC’s official apparel partner, Venum, and may only choose from either traditional vale tudo trunks or looser ‘gladiator’ or deep-cut shorts.

Female fighters have an additional model called the ‘skort’ – a cross between a skirt and shorts.

The choice of which colors to wear comes down to the individual fighter, with the higher-ranked fighter being allowed to choose first.

Champions are usually restricted to sporting a black and gold color combination, although there have been exceptions to this rule, Adesanya being one of them during his green phase.