MIAMI – Israel Adesanya doesn’t feel like he’s being fully appreciated ahead of his return to the octagon.
The former UFC middleweight champion will attempt to reclaim the title on Saturday when he takes on rival Alex Pereira in an immediate championship rematch. The bout goes down in the main event of UFC 287, which takes place at Kaseya Center and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
“Not many people get the opportunity to show how great they are, to rise to the occasion when all the odds are stoked against them and people are counting them out,” Adesanya told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s UFC 287 media day. “And for me, this fight, I feel like the underdog. I feel like everyone is counting me out. I feel like because of the result of the last fight, goldfish memory. They forgot what I’ve done in this game. It’s time to remind people how great I am.”
Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) lost to Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) by fifth-round TKO in November at UFC 281. Although it was their first time competing in MMA, they fought twice before in kickboxing, with Pereira winning by decision and knockout.
“The Last Stylebender” believes this series against Pereira to be one of the greatest in MMA history.
“It’s spanned across years, across two different combat codes, across different countries,” Adesanya said. “The history of matches between Alex. Even in the way that, in his head, he’s the protagonist. In my view, I’m player one. I’m the protagonist, he’s the antagonist.
“I’m just doing so much better in life. He kept on trying to chance what he already had. He got to this point and I made it easy for him to get to the title. I didn’t make it easy for him to get the title, but to get to the title because he already had that win over me in kickboxing. He dodged the gauntlet. … Now this is the point where I’m down two fights in kickboxing, one fight in MMA. I’m down three. This is in very movie, that one shot. This is my Eminem moment, my ‘8-Mile’ moment: ‘You get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes one in a life time.’ This is it for me.
“Imagine if I get it done. Imagine if I butchered him and beat the f*ck out of him. I always do. I put him on his back, we’ll find out I do all this sh*t and I beat his ass. Do some damage to him. Something amazing. Like I said, I don’t keep score. I settle it.”
Adesanya is not looking beyond Saturday. He doesn’t want to even entertain the idea of an immediate trilogy bout if victorious.
“I don’t know what’s next,” Adesanya said. “I’m focused on this fight. Everything is on this fight. I’ve put everything. Anything that doesn’t help with this fight, for the last four months, I’ve cut it out. I’ve removed it. Everything is focused strictly on this fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
