Henry Cejudo doesn’t see Israel Adesanya making the necessary adjustments to beat Alex Pereira.
In the UFC 287 headliner on April 8 in Miami, Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will look to reclaim his middleweight title from Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) – who knocked him out late in Round 5 at UFC 281.
The title win marked Pereira’s third over Adesanya, with two coming in kickboxing. But in order for Adesanya to overcome his rival, Cejudo says he needs to bring in specific training partners tailored for the matchup, or he will suffer the same fate.
“It all depends if Israel made those adjustments in that fight,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “If Israel did not add somebody to his camp, it’s going to be the same guy (that wins).
“If he made those transitions, I can see Izzy playing the distance game, point fighting, and then maybe look for something big to eventually take him down because he did as we saw before, he had six minutes and 34 seconds of control time. Take him into the deeper rounds and then start looking for your takedowns. Maybe point fight him for the first three (rounds), and then the next two maybe start using your grappling.”
Cejudo, who correctly predicted the previous fight, thinks Pereira prevails once again, citing his power as a main factor.
“I just think Israel is stuck, he just believes he could beat him in his style, so for that reason I just can’t,” Cejudo said. “I’m actually somewhat cheering for Israel, but not really because I haven’t seen enough from Israel from the transitions that he adds somebody. I just feel like this man’s (Pereira) power, the fact that he’s already beaten him three times. I think fourth time, he just puts a stamp on it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
