LAS VEGAS – Darren Till isn’t sure if Israel Adesanya can get past the challenge of beating Alex Pereira.
Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) dethroned Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) with a come-from-behind TKO in Round 5 at UFC 281 to capture the middleweight title. The win marked the third time Pereira has defeated Adesanya, with the other two times coming in kickboxing.
But in Pereira’s past two wins over Adesanya, he was losing the fight up until he rallied to score the finish. Even though Till acknowledges that Adesanya showed he has the tools to beat Pereira, he would still side with the Brazilian if they fought for a fourth time.
“I’ve watched all three fights and the two fights he (Adesanya) was just absolutely winning comfortably,” Till told MMA Junkie. “Alex all three times just seems to from somewhere, I don’t know what it is whether he’s got Izzy’s number or what, gets the win and it’s quite terrifying for Izzy because can Izzy beat him? We’ve seen he can – well he can’t because the fifth Alex got it back.”
He continued, “Is a fourth fight worth it? Yeah, you have to because Izzy was the champ for a long time and he was dominant, but Alex has beat him three times and it’s not like a wrestler vs. a striker. They’re both strikers. It’s very tough. I know I’ve lost a fight here and there but if you lose four fights to the same person… I think the fourth fight is warranted but at this point do I see Izzy beating Pereira? For some reason, because Pereira’s won the three fights, no I don’t.”
Adesanya has long expressed interest in fighting Till (18-4 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC), but Till is yet to score the signature win he needs at middleweight to catapult him to title contention. Although Adesanya is no longer champion, Till is still interested in the matchup.
“It’s a fight that’s got to happen because I know he wants to fight for one reason, he wants to test my type of striking against his,” Till said. “I’ve always known that because he’s seen the type of striker I am and I’ve seen the type of striker he is, like phenomenal, but we’ll just see. But I think with Pereira now having the title a lot of things are gonna change up because if Izzy doesn’t get the title back, there’s a lot of people there to take it.”
Till will look to get back to the win column when he faces Dricus Du Plessis in Saturday’s UFC 282 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 282.
