Israel Adesanya will return to the octagon next month to challenge Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title at UFC 305 in Perth. Adesanya lost his title to Sean Strickland in UFC 293, and after that, Strickland failed to defend his title against Du Plessis. The middleweight division is full of action as everyone is eyeing for the championship belt.
However, the current middleweight champ du Plessis believes that Adesanya’s personal biggest achievement was beating Alex Pereira. “He had this nemesis who’s beaten him multiple times, and after that fight, he was ready to call it quits,” Du Plessis said.
The current light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, who recently knocked out Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303, has faced only one defeat: against Israel Adesanya. The rivalry between ‘Izzy’ and ‘Poatan’ dates back to their days in the Glory Kickboxing organization. After two kickboxing matches and one UFC title fight, Adesanya finally defeated Pereira at UFC 287 in April 2023, reclaiming the middleweight championship and earning his first win in their four-fight series.
Since then, Adesanya has lost the title to Sean Strickland and took a break from fighting. In contrast, Pereira moved up a division and became the light heavyweight champion.
Will Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya Face Off Again?
After losing his middleweight title to ‘Izzy,’ Pereira moved to the light heavyweight division and secured his first win against Jan Blachowicz. He demonstrated dominance by defeating fighters like Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka to become the light heavyweight champion.
Currently, there are no negotiations between Pereira and Adesanya for a fight. Although Pereira has expressed confidence in the light heavyweight division, he has no plans to return to the middleweight division.
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If Adesanya wants a trilogy match with Pereira, he must move from middleweight to light heavyweight. Interestingly, he previously moved to light heavyweight to fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, where he lost by unanimous decision. Thereafter, he came back to the middleweight division.
So, if he reaches 205 lbs again, he could face his former rival Pereira. Fans are surely anticipating this potential match, which would undoubtedly break records given the substantial amount of popularity both fighters enjoy. But only time will tell whether there will be another Adesanya vs. Pereira match!
