Eugene Bareman, coach of Israel Adesanya is not convinced that Alex Pereira earned his title shot.
Head coach for the UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is not too happy about a 6-1 fighter getting a title shot. Adesanya will be defending his belt against Alex Pereira at UFC 281 on Saturday night. Adesanya has a history with his opponent as the two have faced off twice before in kickboxing. Adesanya and his team think that the shared past is the only reason Pereira is receiving this title shot with only three UFC fights under his belt.
Pereira is a very experienced fighter. He has been competing in kickboxing for ten years and has won over 30 bouts. He holds two wins over Adesanya and upon his transition to MMA he knew he would face him again one day. That day has come but Adesanya and his team still believe it came too soon.
Bareman, coach to Israel Adesanya questions Pereira’s rush to the title
Eugene Bareman is the head coach of City Kickboxing out of New Zealand. He has been the coach of Adesanya and many other top-level fighters for a long time. He knows how to run a gym and how to motivate his fighters. He has been preparing Adesanya for this challenge against Pereira but that does not mean he understands why Pereira is in this position in the first place.
“There’s no way he gets a title shot if there wasn’t history there; it’s ridiculous,” Bareman said on The MMA Hour per MMA Fighting. “It’s just ridiculous that someone would get a title shot [so quickly]. There’s history with Israel, and the story and the UFC, hate it or love it, Dana has to promote fights. That’s one thing they do really well. They picked up this history, picked up this would be a great fight that’s going to bring a lot of eyes, and strategically push Alex so he could fight for the title. We’ll have to see on Saturday if he’s being rushed too early, and if they should’ve been more patient.”
Pereira has won three fights in the UFC since November of last year. He only has a total of six MMA wins in his professional career as opposed to the 23 of Adesanya. The history between the two has definitely been a factor in the selling of the fight and increasing fan interest. Only time will tell if Pereira is up to the task and can beat Adesanya once again on Saturday.
