Israel Adesanya's long-time rival Marvin Vettori hopes he will be so viciously knocked out that he needs serious medical attention against Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in November.
The eventual UFC middleweight champion Adesanya was left in need of oxygen after being viciously knocked out by Pereira in their second kickboxing match in 2017. Now, over five years later, the pair will reignite their long-standing feud in the MMA cage with UFC gold on the line at Madison Square Garden.
Adesanya is seemingly unbeatable at middleweight, having beaten Vettori himself twice on an undefeated run which was only scuppered when he jumped up 20lb to try and take the light-heavyweight title in 2021. However, there is genuine intrigue about how he will cope with Pereira again after losing twice to him in kick-boxing including that vicious stoppage.
