Israel Adesanya broke down the title-fight rematch between UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, and he’s expecting nothing to be held back.
Pereira (10-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) rematches Prochazka (30-4-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 303 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Adesanya has a rich history with Pereira having fought him four times – twice in kickboxing, and twice in MMA. Adesanya is 1-3 against Pereira, having knocked him out in their most recent outing at UFC 287.
Since losing to Adesanya in their middleweight title fight, Pereira moved up to 205 pounds and achieved incredible success. “Poatan” knocked out Prochazka to claim the vacant title at UFC 295, but Adesanya expects both fighters to make adjustments.
“The approach from both fighters will be different because they both know what could happen,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Alex knows he could get taken down and controlled, and Jiri knows he can get knocked out, but also Alex knows he can get touched and hurt by Jiri. Alex can surprise him, as well. If Jiri takes him down, Alex can surprise him with some new sh*t on the ground that he’s been working on.”
Adesanya expects an all-out war between Pereira and Prochazka and ultimately picked against his former foe.
“Someone’s going to die,” Adesanya said. “That’s the mindset that either he finishes me or I finish him, that’s the mindset that you have to have if you’re taking a short-notice fight for five rounds. Holding on for five rounds and you’re not fit? I’m telling you, it’s a bad, bad time. So you just have to go in there and be like, ‘Right, either he dies or I die.’
“So who’s going to try to kill who in this fight? I’m going to go Jiri because we’re the Chosen Few, but also I think he might have learned from his mistake because people don’t understand. And also it makes things interesting, he beats him, then there’s a trifecta and I won’t be the only one who’s knocked this guy out. I’m going to go Jiri and I’m going to go by third or fourth-round finish.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.
