Israel Adesanya would like former UFC referee Steve Mazzagatti to officiate his upcoming title clash with Alex Pereira.
Adesanya will face one of the biggest tests of his UFC career when he takes on two-time conqueror in a UFC title clash at Madison Square Garden set for UFC 281. 'The Last Stylebender' lost to the Brazilian in both 2016 and 2017 with the latter seeing Pereira becoming the first man to KO Adesanya.
And the Nigerian has revealed he would love hear UFC official Mazzagati's famous "fight back" phrase during the fight. "Dana, bring back Steve Mazzagatti," he said during an interview on his YouTube channel. "Bring back Steve Mazzagatti to ref my fight because I want to hear 'fight back' as I'm punching him in the face like 50 times.
"I want to hear 'Fight back, you need to move Alex, you need to move, fight back, now hook him up.' I want to hear that like 50 times before they drag me off of him. I'm focused solely on this guy. These other last three guys I knew I was going to beat them [Vettori, Whittaker, Cannonier]. This guy [Pereira], I know I can beat him, but it's because of the reality in this realm, in this timeline.
"He's beaten me in the past so there's no false sense of arrogance and I have to humble myself in a sense of like 'No, he can beat me, but I know I can beat him.' That last fight we had I was touching him, I had him rocked."
Adesanya has made five successful title defences since winning the 185lb title, and has yet to be beaten during his dominant run in the division. However Pereira has made a quick-fire rise to a title shot winning three consecutive fights, and is considered a real threat to Adesanya's throne.
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And despite the pressure on his shoulders, Adesanya has revealed he will take inspiration from boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and focus on only this fight without a gaze into the future. “I was watching Claressa Shields and Floyd Mayweather talk on FaceTime when he fought Pacquiao," Adesanya continued. "He said got up from the seat for every round.
"He always just thought like, ‘Forget every other fight. If there’s ever a fight I have to win, it’s this one.' I feel that. That’s me right now. If there’s ever a fight, I have to win, it’s this one. That’s why everything is different this camp. There’s no excuses. If there’s ever a fight I have to win, it’s this one.”
