Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren think Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira 3 is the fight to make.
At UFC 287, Adesanya gained revenge against Pereira with a vicious second-round knockout to take back the middleweight world championship. Although there are rumors about ‘Poatan’ moving up to light heavyweight, there is a chance he stays at 185 pounds.
If the Brazilian does stay in the same weight class, there is an argument to be made that he deserves an immediate rematch against ‘The Last Stylebender,’ to settle the score in the Octagon During a video on Cormier’s YouTube channel, Askren had this to say about wanting to see Adesanya vs. Pereira 3 next:
“I think it’s the right fight. So, I think you have a couple of ways to look at it. Number one, Alex [Pereira] is either 3-1 or 1-1 against [Israel] Adesanya, and then when you look at the division, he’s [Adesanya] beat them all. He beat Whittaker twice, he beat Vettori twice, he beat Cannonier, he beat Costa, and then number six is [Dricus] Du Plessis. He’s the only one that makes a little bit of sense, he’s not ready.”
ADESANYA JUST SLEPT PEREIRA
— 🌴ᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴏꜰᴡᴀʀ🌴 (@TheArtOfWar6) April 9, 2023
Watch Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren discuss what’s next for Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira below:
Daniel Cormier thinks Alex Pereira could struggle against other top middleweight contenders
Sean Strickland is the only ranked UFC middleweight that Alex Pereira has fought besides Israel Adesanya. As a result, ‘Poatan’ could be in for a rude awakening when fighting other top 185-pound contenders with a high-level grappling pedigree like Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori.
During the same YouTube video with Ben Askren, Daniel Cormier had this to say about what’s next for Pereira:
“I really do feel like they should do Izzy vs. Alex right now because I also worry about Alex with guys like Marvin Vettori. I think Robert Whittaker is probably the worst matchup for Alex Pereira because he does have the ability to take him down and kind of slow him down. The Izzy fight just kinda makes sense because, like you said, they’re 1-1 and Pereira was actually fighting really good on Saturday night. It felt like he was gonna run away with the win.”
Pereira hasn’t made a statement regarding what division he plans to fight in next. With that said, Dana White and Adesanya believe he should move up to light heavyweight. During the UFC 287 post-fight press conference, they suggested that ‘Poatan’ would be better at 185 pounds. Only time will tell if the former middleweight champion will make the change.
Israel Adesanya feels Alex Pereira would have to "do the hard yards" to earn another title shot after their rivalry was "settled" at #UFC287
"Go cause problems at 205 [pounds] and good luck to everybody else, because he’s a m***** f***** to deal with." pic.twitter.com/ggdmo8IfSP
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) April 9, 2023
