Israel Adesanya reacts to Alex Pereira’s light-heavyweight debut booking against Jan Blachowicz

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has reacted to Alex Pereira’s fight booking.

‘The Last Stylebender’ and ‘Poatan’ faced off at UFC 287 last month in Florida. The bout was the fourth time that they had faced off, with the Brazilian scoring two wins in the kickboxing ring. In their initial MMA fight last November, Pereira scored a fifth-round knockout win to win the gold.

However, in their rematch last month in Miami, the former champion scored a hellacious second-round knockout. In the process, Adesanya regained the middleweight title and ended his rivalry with Pereira. Well, the rivalry is ended for the moment, as the Brazilian is heading up to light-heavyweight.

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Earlier this week, Alex Pereira was booked against Jan Blachowicz for UFC 291 in July. In an interview uploaded to his YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya reacted to the fight announcement. There, the middleweight champion didn’t seem to believe the Brazilian stood much of a chance.

Adesanya famously lost to the Polish former champion himself back in March 2021. In the video on his YouTube channel, the middleweight champion didn’t give a prediction. However, he offered that Blachowicz will likely beat the Brazilian up on the ground.

“I think Jan is going to take him down and beat him up there,” Israel Adesanya stated in the video uploaded to his YouTube channel. “I think Jan will stand with him for a bit. But, eventually, just get him to the fence or try and take him down the way he took me down. I don’t think he’s going to shoot, so he’s either going to get him to the fence.”

He continued, “…Yeah, he did it at the right times and he took me down. So he could get caught coming in, it depends. What if he gets him down? What if he can keep him down? I don’t know, we’ll have to see. I don’t know, I’m not doing a f*cking prediction for this fight. But right now it’s funny, I think it’s a nice matchup to me.

What do you make of these comments? Are you excited about Alex Pereira vs. Jan Blachowicz? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!