The story of Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya is one with many exuberant chapters and one which does not appear to be finished just yet.
‘Poatan’ picked up a split decision win at the weekend over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jan Blachowicz. The bout, which was Pereira’s debut fight at Light Heavyweight, came following a knockout defeat to Adesanya back in April. Making it 1-1 between the pair in the UFC, after Pereira stopped Adesanya to claim UFC gold back in November 2022.
Pereira has for some time, appeared to be the black cloud following Israel Adesanya’s career. With two previous defeats in kickboxing and a stoppage loss in the UFC, it seemed that wherever Israel Adesanya would go, Alex Pereira would follow. Most recently, the pair were seen sharing some light hearted humour, as Pereira followed Adesanya through airport security. It seems as though whenever Izzy looks over his shoulder, Pereira is never too far away.
Alex Pereira Talks Israel Adesanya Trilogy
So when Alex Pereira announced that he would be moving up to 205lb to challenge himself at Light Heavyweight, it should have been of no surprise to us that his debut matchup in his new weight class would be against Jan Blachowicz. The only other man to defeat Adesanya in the UFC.
Following his victory over Jan at UFC 291 at the weekend, the prospect of facing Adesanya for a third time in the UFC was put to Pereira, who welcomed the concept of a rubber match but with one particular condition attached.
“Before my last fight happened, when I made weight, I told the guys that I was going to take a break from the weight class for now,” Pereira said via translator. “It was getting hard a little bit, making weight in a short span of time. So I went up to light heavyweight now. I want to do one more fight at light heavyweight, take some time from all those cuts, and then I actually want to fight in the lower weight class again, middleweight.”
“Because in my mind we are 1-1 at middleweight. I won one at middleweight, Israel won the other one, so nothing more fair than making the trilogy at middleweight.”
Quotes from MMA Fighting
What’s Next?
With the score sitting at 1-1 and despite both men currently fighting in different weight classes, it appears that the trilogy could be right around the corner. With Izzy currently shy of any ‘new’ Middleweight contenders and Pereira within touching distance of a Light Heavyweight title shot, it leaves plenty of mouth-watering opportunities for these two to cross paths once more.
Will it be Middleweight or Light Heavyweight gold on the line? Whatever the weight, one thing is for sure…
The final pages of the Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira story are yet to be written.
What weight do you think the trilogy will take place at? 185 or 205? Will Izzy challenge Pereira for Light Heavyweight gold or could we see Alex Pereira back at Middleweight? Please let us know what you think is next in the comments.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
