MIAMI – It seemed as soon as viewers had a millisecond to digest Israel Adesanya’s knockout victory Saturday over Alex Pereira at UFC 287, questions emerged about a trilogy meeting in MMA between the two rivals.
Following the conclusion of the main event, UFC president Dana White, who sits at matchmaking mission control, was asked if a rubber match between the two rivals is next, considering the lifetime series is tied at one win apiece. White, however, thinks it may not even be an option.
“Honestly, I think that Pereira probably moves to 205 after this fight,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a news conference. “He’s a monster. I know that he still had two pounds to cut leading up to when there was like an hour left in weigh-ins. Yeah. I’m not saying he’s moving to 205, but I’d assume he is. You guys can ask him, himself. But it wouldn’t surprise me. … I would bet anything he moves to 205 after this fight.”
Pereira is large for the middleweight division, but has not missed weight. However, at each weigh-in ahead of his two UFC title fights, Pereira weighed in during the later stages of the designated window.
While Pereira has yet to comment on his UFC 287 loss or what’s next, Adesanya echoed a similar prediction to White. Even if Pereira stays at middleweight, Adesanya wants to see him earn his way back to a title fight.
“I don’t keep score, I settle them,” Adesanya said at a post-fight news conference of his own. “Now, it’s settled. Look, I gave him the fast track to the belt. I could’ve said, ‘Nah, f*ck no. Who has he fought?’ Like, he fought one top five. But he did well. He fought some alright guys. Then, he beat f*cking Strickland and I was like, ‘OK, fine. There’s no one else.’ But also, I was looking for that challenge, that guy that beat me in kickboxing. That’s why I took that fight.
“I got that immediate rematch because of what I’ve done in this game. … I did the hard yards. I earned my f*cking rematch. Now, he’s got to do the hard yards if he wants to do that, but I don’t think he’s going to. Go cause problems at 205. Good f*cking luck to everybody else because he’s a motherf*cker to deal with. I’ll tell you that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
