Depending upon how carefully you’ve got adopted the careers of UFC middleweight king Alex Pereira and former champion Israel Adesanya, Saturday’s UFC 287 important occasion in Miami is both a direct MMA rematch or the fourth combat altogether between the 2 in fight sports activities.
Pereira (7-1), who beforehand owned a pair of kickboxing wins over Adesanya (23-2), scored a large upset of “The Last Stylebender” in November when he dramatically stopped Adesanya in Round 5 to seize the UFC’s 185-pound championship. The pair of middleweights will face off as soon as extra inside Miami-Dade Arena atop a well-matched combat card that includes hometown hero Jorge Masvidal in opposition to Gilbert Burns within the co-main occasion.
Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at the most important storylines coming into this weekend because the UFC returns to south Florida.
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1. There was nothing fortunate about Alex Pereira’s UFC 281 win over Israel Adesanya
Now, would Pereira additionally possible had been stopped if Round 1 of their first MMA assembly had been an extra 10 seconds longer? The probability appeared very doable as Adesanya visibly damage him earlier than the buzzer with a mixture of unpolluted photographs. Such is the very skinny line on the elite degree between profitable and shedding. But though Adesanya’s surprising loss occurred simply months after former pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman equally yielded his UFC title in Round 5 of his rematch with Leon Edwards, there was nothing fluky about how Pereira ultimately caught up with Adesanya. And given the detailed historical past of Pereira doing simply that — not solely defeating Adesanya however rallying from behind to take action by knockout — it feels fairly clear that besting Adesanya has develop into a sample for “Poatan.” Sure, it is a model matchup that solely inflates Pereira’s hazard on the toes contemplating Adesanya is not a lot of a grappler and has been unable to show the weakest components of the Brazilian slugger’s sport on the bottom. Pereira has proven repeatedly, nevertheless, that he merely has Adesanya’s quantity. Despite being down on the scorecards late of their first UFC assembly, Pereira by no means misplaced his focus, by no means gassed out and barely stopped appearing the position of aggressor by crowding Adesanya and by no means letting him get comfy. For no matter Pereira lacks in pure MMA expertise, he has made up for so far with violence and by leaning on his strengths as a seasoned warrior who seems uniquely created for such a harrowing occupation.
2. Pereira’s UFC takeover has been nothing wanting exceptional
Can we pause and take inventory of how unlikely Pereira’s precise path to a UFC title, in simply his eighth professional MMA combat and fourth stroll to the Octagon, has turned out to be? Despite a embellished profession in kickboxing, Pereira’s MMA expertise continues to be restricted — at finest — as we communicate at present. He turned professional in 2015, misplaced by way of third-round submission and fought twice extra — each TKO wins — in 2016 earlier than taking 4 extra years off whereas specializing in his old flame. Even although he defeated Adesanya in 2016 and 2017 below the Glory of Heroes kickboxing banner, his eventual full-time transfer to MMA lacked the crossover fanfare of Adesanya’s 2018 UFC debut and meteoric two-year journey to the middleweight title. Pereira, who turned a two-division champion with Glory simply as Adesanya was turning into a family identify within the UFC, lastly transitioned on a full-time degree again to MMA in 2020 with LFA. He had simply 4 professional fights when he entered the Octagon for the primary time in November 2021 and parlayed a trio of victories into a gathering with Adesanya that was sped up due to their historical past. Now, 4 months shy of his thirty sixth birthday, he is a UFC champion. Becoming an apprentice of Glover Teixeira and shifting to the previous UFC gentle heavyweight king’s Connecticut health club proved to be an indispensable a part of Pereira’s rise. But let’s not act just like the pace and unlikeliness of how shortly Pereira transitioned to the sport is harking back to even Brock Lesnar.
3. What would a second straight defeat imply to Adesanya’s legacy?
It’s an fascinating query few are speaking a lot about provided that a lot of the narrative heading into Saturday has surrounded Adesanya’s path to redemption. At 33 and 14 fights deep into his exceptional UFC profession, nobody is questioning whether or not Adesanya has already established himself as each traditionally related as one of many prime pound-for-pound fighters of this period and among the many finest middleweights within the sport’s historical past. Victories over Anderson Silva, Marvin Vettori (twice), Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Robert Whittaker (twice), Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier communicate for themselves. But like Usman simply skilled, consecutive losses to the identical fighter have a method of shortly sobering the higher sure limits of what we as soon as thought was doable for a fantastic fighter’s legacy as soon as they’ve tiptoed so near securing standing as an all-time nice. Putting an excessive amount of emphasis on one or two fights in relation to how a fighter will likely be remembered is usually an in-the-moment response that always balances itself out over time. No one is saying that it is honest to evaluate so sharply in a sport usually flawed by its obsession over any fighter being solely actually pretty much as good as their final efficiency. But few can deny how shut Adesanya not too long ago toed to outright MMA immortality when he clowned Paulo Costa in 2020 earlier than speaking a couple of doable future as a three-division UFC champion. Adesanya, who was then embroiled in a social media feud with Jon Jones, was even the betting favourite when he moved as much as 205 kilos to problem defending champion Jan Blachowicz the next 12 months. That was two years in the past, and to Adesanya’s full credit score, he bounced again from the choice loss to Blachowicz by defending his middleweight title three extra occasions. But ought to he lose once more to Pereira, the narrative would possibly shortly shift towards the concept of Adesanya having as soon as been a fantastic fighter who could not fairly attain the higher room due to a heated rival in the identical division who persistently had his quantity.
4. Jorge Masvidal enters his closing probability at chopping the welterweight line
Remember that point in 2019 that Masvidal got here out of nowhere to snap a 16-month layoff, rating a trio of highlight-reel stoppages and stunningly declare each the fighter of the 12 months award and the UFC’s legendary “BMF” title? How in regards to the three years that adopted as Masvidal fought simply as soon as per calendar 12 months, together with twice for the title in opposition to Usman, solely to drop a trio of one-sided defeats on pay-per-view? At 38, Masvidal nonetheless brings a puncher’s probability and an enormous following as a avenue icon and antihero. He will even be combating in his personal metropolis of Miami as a heavy underdog in opposition to veteran Gilbert Burns. Even although UFC president Dana White has already stated Colby Covington will draw the subsequent shot at Edwards’ 170-pound title, one has to wonder if Masvidal might reduce the road — particularly contemplating how offended UFC followers are that Covington was chosen forward of Belal Muhammad — ought to he pull the upset in opposition to Burns. Remember, Masvidal’s catch phrase of “three piece and a soda” went viral in 2019 following a knockout of Darren Till when he attacked Edwards backstage in London. Now that Edwards is champion, Masvidal possible has one closing shot at combating for gold. It’s not a fantastic shot, nevertheless, largely due to Burns’ savagery and dominant grappling abilities. For no matter lightning in a bottle Masvidal captured three years in the past, the jury stays out as as to whether he nonetheless has any of that left over. The bigger actuality is that age has possible caught up with Masvidal, who’s simply 7-8 contained in the Octagon since 2014.
5. Clear the best way for UFC’s teenage bantamweight sensation
The UFC has by no means been shy at dashing a younger prospect with a seemingly vivid future immediately into high-level competition with a purpose to trip the recent hand so far as it’s going to go. It’s removed from an actual science — Sage Northcutt and Paige VanZant, anybody? — but the cream usually does rise to the highest, even when a fighter’s lack of expertise usually stunts their longterm progress by shedding troublesome early fights. Look no additional than present middleweights Khamzat Chimaev and Bo Nickal to see how enjoyable it may be for followers to enter every matchup not sure of whether or not the subsequent huge factor is really prepared. Yet to this point, bantamweight Raul Rosas Jr. has regarded as if he belongs. Rosas was simply 17 when he earned a UFC contract in 2022 on the Dana White’s “Contender Series” and he received his UFC debut in December by way of first-round submission. The 18-year-old Rosas will tackle 8-1 Christian Rodriguez, a 25-year-old who break up his pair of Octagon appearances in 2022. This ought to give each followers and matchmakers an up to date image of the place Rosas is at and the way vivid his future simply is likely to be.
