Michael Bisping Not Expecting Defensive Israel Adesanya Against Alex Pereira

'The Count' believes we'll see a more offensive Adesanya against rival Pereira.

Michael Bisping On Adesanya Vs Alex
Michael Bisping On Adesanya Vs Alex - Image via @stylebender Instagram/ @MichaelBisping Youtube

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is not expecting Israel Adesanya to be as defensive as usual when he takes on rival Alex Pereira.

Michael Bisping Expecting Offensive Adesanya Against Pereira

A massive grudge match is set to headline UFC 281 later this month from Madison Square Garden. Israel Adesanya will put his middleweight title up for grabs against ex-kickboxing foe Alex Pereira.

Pereira has defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing competition prior, one of those being via knockout. This has been a huge topic of discussion heading into the bout.

So much so that UFC Hall Of Famer Michael Bisping has offered his thoughts on the matter. “The Count” took to his YouTube channel to offer his thoughts ono the situation.

In regards to the stigma that Adesanya has seemingly adopted amongst the public that he’s fighting too defensively, Bisping does not believe this will be the case against Pereira. 

Instead, Bisping expects Adesanya to come forward against Pereira and fight for the finish.

“One of the negative things about Israel Adesanya that people do say is that lately, he hasn’t fought to win,” Bisping said (via MMA Fighting). “He’s having more of a defensive style.

“Listen, you see this a lot with UFC champions, because the stakes are so high, the pressure is immense, the lifestyle you can live when you’re defending the belt that many times, generating that kind of cash, world famous wherever you go, endorsement deals all over the place.

“To lose, you don’t just lose the fight, you lose all of that that goes with it: the lifestyle, the stardom, the fame, the deals, the money. It really is life changing. So there does come an element of pressure with that…

“But coming into this one, Israel is going to fight. Israel is going to fight, because Pereira, I don’t believe, will be scared of him. He’s going to go forward, because he went out there and he beat Izzy, in kickboxing, twice.

“That reinforces his mind that he the better striker, that he is the better fighter, and now he’s going to think, ‘With four-ounce gloves on, I’m going to have an even greater chance of knocking out Israel Adesanya.’

“And the way he did that in the kickboxing was he went forward, he was aggressive, and we’ve seen that with Pereira. He goes forward.”

Adesanya is currently on a three-fight win streak since suffering his last defeat under the UFC’s banner. That loss came in his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz. 

That was the first and only defeat of Adesanya’s MMA career, as he still remains undefeated at 185 pounds. He faces off against Pereira who only has seven professional fights under his belt in MMA.

His last bout resulted in a knockout win over Sean Strickland. Pereira hasn’t lost since 2015 when he suffered a defeat in his professional debut in the sport.

Since, Pereira has gone undefeated with six-straight wins, all but one of which being a knockout. Now, he’ll attempt to pull of a major upset against Adesanya, who he owns two wins over already in a different sport.

Published on November 3, 2022 at 11:09 am
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