Israel Adesanya predicts former rival Alex Pereira wins UFC 313 by knockout

Israel Adesanya has a well-documented aggressive rivalry with Alex Pereira, however that doesn’t get in the best way of breaking down the UFC gentle heavyweight champion’s fights.

In the principle occasion of UFC 313 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) in Las Vegas, Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) takes on Magomed Ankalaev, an opponent who has been labeled by many as essentially the most difficult but on his 205-pound title run. Whereas Adesanya acknowledges the threats Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) brings to the octagon, he doesn’t see the title altering fingers.

One specific space of the matchup stands out to Adesanaya, and that’s Pereira’s capability to land fight-changing kicks.

“Leg kicks – let’s simply deal with the f*cking elephant within the room,” Adesanya mentioned in a UFC 313 preview on his YouTube channel. “That’s going to be an element on this battle. He may need to change into a wrestler on this battle. He may need to enter his bag for this one. … I believe ego’s part of it the place it’s like, speak, battle speak. He’s saying what he needs to say to get the battle. He’ll arise with him. Yeah, you’ll begin off standing, however I don’t assume it’s going to maintain standing. He’s going to clinch. He’s positively going to attempt to take him down.

“I believe Ankalaev goes to attempt to take him down. Can he maintain him down? Alex Pereira is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu now. He’s exponentially getting higher. I haven’t actually seen him use it a lot in a battle as a result of he hasn’t needed to, however I’ve seen him roll with some folks lately, and it was rather a lot completely different from what I bear in mind. It looks as if his move is healthier on the bottom.”

Pereira and Ankalaev have been going backwards and forwards earlier than the battle about agreements to face and bang, and the champ even supplied a guess to his challenger. Whereas the guess was denied as a consequence of non secular causes, Ankalaev mentioned he and Pereira can work out one other charitable trigger.

As soon as the cage door shuts at T-Cell Enviornment on Saturday night, Ankalaev’s pre-fight guarantees might exit the window. At Wednesday’s media day, Ankalaev merely mentioned “we’ll see what occurs” in regard to implementing his wrestling sport.

“He’s going to shoot as a result of he’s going to get tagged on the legs and once more, might get clocked within the face,” Adesanya mentioned. “If you happen to say Magomed has good straight photographs, that’s one thing Alex has to be careful for, and he switches rather a lot. Southpaw will likely be his finest stance, for Magomed, however I believe, like I mentioned, Alex is beginning to, I’ve seen it in his final battle with Khalil, his low left kick.

“… Perhaps I’m banking an excessive amount of on the leg kicks. I’ve expertise with it. I understand how painful it’s and the way efficient it’s. Regardless, I’ma go Pereira as a result of, momentum. He’s simply on a tear proper now. I like the best way he’s even in a position to do it with the quantity of journey he does.”

Adesanya definitely has expertise with these kicks. The previous UFC middleweight champ fought Pereira 4 instances throughout kickboxing and MMA. Though their collection report stands at 3-1, of their last assembly at UFC 287, Adesanya lastly solved the Pereira puzzle by touchdown a knockout proper hand to win the 185-pound title for the second time. With their once-heated rivalry put to relaxation, Adesanya and Pereira haven’t any ill-will towards one another.

Adesanya sees the battle towards Ankalaev ending early, with “Poatan” getting his hand raised and notching his fourth gentle heavyweight title protection.

“I simply assume that is going to go leg kicks, leg kicks, leg kicks, left hook,” Adesanya mentioned. “Alex Pereira by KO. … He’s going to knock him out within the fourth or fifth spherical.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 313.