‘If I Had To Bet Money On It, No’

Sustaining he has now settled the rating with Brazilian rival, Alex Pereira off the again of his April knockout win, UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya admits that he’ll probably by no means share a fight sports activities setting with the previous once more – until the previous lands mild heavyweight spoils.

Adesanya, the present and two-time middleweight champion, headlined UFC 287 again in April in Miami, Florida towards Sao Paulo native, Pereira, scoring a surprising second spherical KO win over the previous GLORY Kickboxing gold holder.

The knockout win returned Adesanya to the winner’s enclosure for the primary time in his middleweight profession in combined martial arts, following a UFC 281 standing TKO loss to Pereira of their title showdown.

Israel Adesanya performs down a possible rematch with Alex Pereira

And regardless of boasting a 1-3 report towards Brazilian knockout artist, Pereira over the course of their four-fight skilled sequence, Adesanya, who claims that his rating with the previous is settled, additionally denied a attainable battle with the Brazilian sooner or later once more.

“If (Alex Pereira) wins the 205 [pound] belt, perhaps,” Israel Adesanya mentioned of one other battle with Alex Pereira throughout an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “If – if he wins the 205 pound belt.”

“If I wanna guess cash on it, no,” Israel Adesanya defined. “‘Trigger 205 – I’ve been there, it’s laborious. It’s no straightforward activity. However, yeah, if he wins the 205 pound belt although – they usually [the UFC] may give him a quick monitor, like they did with me. After which they’re gonna have a magic, loopy, f*cking epic battle with me and him. Then that’ll be us for the fifth time – ain’t that wild?”

But to be booked since reclaiming gold, Adesanya has been earmarked to headline a September pay-per-view card towards both former champion, Robert Whittaker, or the surging, Dricus du Plessis.

As for Pereira, the fan-favorite finisher has been booked to co-headline UFC 291 subsequent month in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah – taking over soon-to-be common-foe, former mild heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz.