Israel Adesanya finds it hard to pick against Alex Pereira at UFC 307.
Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree (14-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at Delta Center in Salt Lake City (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).
Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) knows firsthand how good Pereira is. The pair fought four times – twice in kickboxing and twice in MMA, with Adesanya finally getting his hand raised by knockout at UFC 287. Although Adesanya has picked against Pereira multiple times before, he thinks Rountree’s approach won’t find too much success against “Poatan.”
“I’ll go Pereira because of momentum right now,” Adesanya said on “The Adam Carolla Show.” “Rountree doesn’t grapple. He likes to kickbox. He’s never gone for a takedown. If you’re going to do that with Pereira – I’m the only one who’s ever even rocked him or like stood with him in the UFC. Everyone else, he’s washed. Rountree, if he can make it dirty and catch him, he can catch him, but it’s so hard to do it to Pereira.
“Rountree, his reach may not be able to get to him. Pereira likes to use his long reach to frame. … This weekend I’m going to go Pereira, and I’m going to go TKO or KO. I don’t know what round, but I just feel like it’ll be hard for Rountree. Leg kicks, leg kicks, and he might catch him as Rountree comes in because Rountree is going to be attacking him.”
Chael Sonnen predicted that Rountree will walk through Pereira. Adesanya is unsure what insight Sonnen could have to make such a bold statement but won’t rule out the possibility of Rountree winning.
“Rountree will definitely be the underdog in this one, but I wouldn’t count him out,” Adesanya said. “Because Chael reckons he’s going to win, and Chael reckons he’s going to wash Pereira. And I’m like, ‘Wait, what does he know that we don’t know?’ Of course this is fighting, and I know he can because he can get in there, put him against the fence and just (beat him up).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
