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UFC president Dana White has made a rare guarantee for Israel Adesanya’s next bout, which will likely be a showdown with Alex Pereira.
Adesanya is coming off another successful title defense against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. The middleweight champion came out on top of the judges’ scorecards in a lopsided decision win but received criticism for a lackluster performance that saw little to no action.
White, who was not present at the International Fight Week card, talked to the media during the post-fight press conference at UFC on ABC 3 this past Saturday.
When asked about Adesanya’s performance in his latest outing, White stated: “He won. I mean, I don’t know if it was the performance that he wanted to give, or that he was selling leading into that fight. And the other thing is, I don’t think his opponent was very aggressive either. So, it takes two to make a great fight.”
Not one known to traditionally make assurances, White hyped up Adesanya’s next fight: “Yeah, it’s interesting. It won’t happen in the next fight. When you’re sitting here in my position, you can’t give too many guarantees…
“I absolutely, positively guarantee you that the next fight that Israel Adesanya fights will be absolutely bats**t nuts.” (h/t Sportskeeda)
Adesanya Faced a Lot of Heat for ‘Playing It Safe’
“Stylebender” is renowned for his strategic point style kickboxing and widely regarded as the best defensive striker in the UFC. While some fighters like Robert Whittaker came to his defense insisting that a win was all that mattered, many were far from pleased with what they saw
Former UFC light heavyweight champion and arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time Jon Jones responded to Izzy’s callout of Pereira using a Disney animated movie “Frozen” reference: “Bro I can’t stop thinking about this shit. How are you going to threaten a guy like Alex with glossy fingernails and a frozen reference. I’m over here scratching my head.”
UFC welterweight Kevin Holland tweeted: “Snooz”
Hollywood A-lister Christ Pratt bashed Adesanya’s performance in an appearance on the broadcast show: “I’m going to say this as humbly as I can, as a guy who’s never stepped inside the octagon. I don’t know this game. I’m just an actor. I’m not a fan, man.
I’m not a fan of coming out with all that talk and then just putting on a little bit of a pitter-patter. I’m like, ‘Come on, man. You’ve got to cash on that. You’ve got to cash that promise of being a badass.”
Pratt later apologized after Adesanya fired back at him.
Alex Pereira Is Expected To Challenge “Stylebender” Next
Adesanya has gone undefeated in the UFC as a middleweight. After winning the interim gold over Kelvin Gastelum, he went on to unify and defend it a total of six times. Following his most recent bout, Izzy called out a former nemesis for his next fight.
Alex Pereira is the only man to have knocked out Adesanya and holds two wins over him in kickboxing. When Pereira joined the UFC in November 2021, fans were clamoring for a showdown between him and the reigning 185 lb king.
Considering the callout from the champion and a brutal knockout win over the formerly top five ranked Sean Strickland, Pereira is set to challenge Adesanya next. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, “Stylebender” revealed that the fight was already in the works and a date would be determined soon.
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