Israel Adesanya is intrigued to watch Alex Pereira vs. Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291.
On Tuesday, UFC president Dana White announced that Pereira will be making his light heavyweight debut against Blachowicz. The UFC is throwing Pereira right into the deep end which is what he figured as he is the former champ at middleweight.
What is also interesting is the fact the fight is between the only two guys to beat Israel Adesanya. Blachowicz defended his light heavyweight title at UFC 259 in 2021 while Pereira knocked Adesanya out last November to win the middleweight title. Given that he fought both of them, Adesanya has a good idea of who wins.
Adesanya’s Prediction for Pereira vs. Blachowicz
“I think Jan is gonna take him down and just beat him up there. Jan will stand with him for a bit but eventually, just get him to the fence or try to take him down the way he took me down. I don’t think he’s gonna shoot, so he’s either gonna get him to the fence,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel.
When Israel Adesanya moved up to face Jan Blachowicz, the Pole used his wrestling to control Adesanya and win a decision. ‘The Last Stylebender’ admits he was surprised by that game plan which is why he thinks Blachowic can do it again against Pereira.
“It wasn’t frustrating at the time because I was still catching him sometimes, but also it’s respect,” Adesanya said. “I thought he was gonna come and fight the way he normally fights, but he did that at the right times and took me down. So, yeah, he (Blachowicz) could get caught coming in. It depends. What if he gets him down and keeps him down? I don’t know, we’ll have to see.”
Israel Adesanya is coming off a KO win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287 to reclaim his middleweight title. He will also be paying close attention to the UFC 291 fight as perhaps he faces the winner in the future.
