Israel Adesanya explains why he was not afraid of losing the belt at UFC 281 and what is driving him to get it back.
Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya has lost very few times in his life. During his entire professional MMA and kickboxing career he has only lost seven times, three of those were to Alex Pereira. The last time Adesanya met Pereira was at UFC 281 when he lost his UFC championship belt. Now Adesanya will have the chance to go up against his longtime foe once again in order to try and regain his belt and finally put to rest this rivalry that has been going on for seven years.
Adesanya began his journey in MMA back in 2012 as a professional. He began to rise up the ranks and made it to the UFC while his UFC 287 counterpart was still battling in kickboxing. When Pereira decided to make the move to MMA fans knew that he was on a crash course with Adesanya. Like two trains barreling down the same track, they met head-on at UFC 281 in New York City. Pereira handed Adesanya his first loss at middleweight in the UFC and now holds the belt.
As he prepares to step foot in the Octagon again, “Stylebender” is sharing his routine with fans. In a “Day in the Life” video on the ENGAGE YouTube channel, the voiceover of Adesanya can be heard explaining why he did not shy away from the fight with the man who had already defeated him twice and why he feels this immediate rematch is necessary.
“I put it on the line because I’ve been doing this. This is my third fight in 10 months. Every time I fight, I risk losing, you know, what you guys deem as the prestigious, which it is, the belt and all that sh-t,” he said. “And I put it on the line because I’m not trying to just fight once and then I’ll chill, do my lap around, and raise the champion and not risk so much. So yeah, I put it on the line and this is what happens. Again, dare to be great, and I am.”
Israel Adesanya has a big “why” coming into the rematch with Alex Pereira at UFC 287
It would appear to many looking on that Pereira has Adesanya’s number. He has defeated him three times already but that is not stopping Adesanya. He has more motivation than ever coming into the rematch and spoke about his “why” in the video. When asked about the saying “It’s hard to wake up when sleeping in silk sheets” and if that applied to him, he responded.
“It’s only hard to wake up like that when, I get what they mean. I get it, trust me, but it’s only for those who don’t really have things to do, things to look forward to, and are already in it. They don’t have a why, a big why. I have a why, a really big why. I’m doing everything in my power,” he said. “I’m telling you how it is. It’s part of my life, I eat, sleep, train, repeat and I f–k on occasion”
Pereira vs. Adesanya will be featured as the main event of UFC 287. The bout goes down on April 8 live from Miami, Florida.
