Israel Adesanya explains why he is “really excited” to fight Alex Pereira at UFC 281: “I’m excited to have someone who’s going to attack me”

Israel Adesanya says he is super excited to face Alex Pereira at UFC 281 as he will finally have an opponent who will attack him.

Adesnaya (23-1 MMA) vs. Pereira (6-1 MMA) are set to collide for the promotions middleweight title on November 12th at Madison Sqaure Garden.

’Stylebender’ and ‘Poatan’ have a history having faced off on two separate occasions in kickboxing. The pair first met in 2016, with the Brazilian picking up a close decision victory. The two rematched one year later, with Pereira earning a come-from-behind knockout win.

Israel Adesanya most recently competed at last month’s UFC 276 event, where he scored a lackluster unanimous decision victory over Jared Cannonier. That win marked Izzy’s third in a row, as he had previously earned victories over Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker.

Meanwhile, Alex Pereira was also last seen in action at UFC 276, where he earned a first round knockout victory over Sean Strickland.  That highlight reel finish marked Pereira’s third straight win, with three of those victories coming under the UFC banner.

Following the announcement that he would be fighting Alex Pereira in the headliner of UFC 281, Israel Adesanya released the following video detailing his excitement for the matchup.

Adesanya expects Pereira to attack him when they fight at #UFC281 👀 pic.twitter.com/5MZ9KHBZkY

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 6, 2022

”I’m really excited to have someone, finally, who after the first round or the second round, they realize they can’t do sh*t and just want to be defensive. I’m excited to have someone who’s going to attack me. Who’s going to actually try and finish me. And this is the story of this fight cause he’s done it before (finished me) in the past in kickboxing. So for me, it’s like, is he going to get knocked out or am I going to get knocked out?”

Who are you picking to emerge victorious when Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira collide in the main event of UFC 281? Share your predictions in the comment section Penn Nation!