WATCH: UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have an EPIC FACEOFF atop New York’s iconic Empire State Building
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Israel Adesanya (R) and Alex Pereira (L) face-off on top of NYC's Empire State Building
Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira face off against each other in a titanic battle for the ages at UFC 281, which will be held in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
It is only right that such a huge match-up is held in arguably the world’s most iconic arena, MSG with NYC acting as the beautiful backdrop for UFC 281. Truth be told, the main event for UFC 281 has been long in the making, possibly even before Alex Pereira came to the UFC. Israel Adesanya’s reign in the middleweight championship has been simply epochal – he has wiped away all the competition, and if wins against Pereira, he would have beaten every single middleweight contender in the top six.
To mark the occasion, the UFC organized a second faceoff for the formidable foes on top of New York City’s most iconic building – The Empire State Building, which rises to 443m above the ground.
In the face-off, Alex Pereira can be seen saying to Israel Adesanya that he will ‘do the talking on Saturday’, which basically signifies that not being able to speak English will not be a hindrance for the Brazilian come fight night, as it was during the press conference.
Related- Was Israel Adesanya ever a kickboxing champion?
Israel Adesanya can exact his revenge against Alex Pereira at UFC 281
Israel Adesanya has had a stellar MMA career to date – of 23 wins, a staggering 15 have come by way of knockout. The only fight he has lost was against Jan Blachowicz, in their light heavyweight title bout last year.
That being said, Israel Adesanya does indeed have a couple more losses in his kickboxing career. Amassing a stunning 80 fights, he won 75 and lost 5. The five shouldn’t alarm anyone – the sheer volume of fights warrants losing an odd couple here and there. However, his most monumental losses came to Alex Pereira, in 2016 and 2017.
Alex Pereira is a former double-division champion of the Glory kickboxing banner – that is, champion at middleweight and light heavyweight. He beat Israel Adesanya in 2016, and then via spectacular fashion in 2017 – this time, by a left hook that left Israel Adesanya pinned to the canvas.
However, now that the fight is in Adesanya’s own turf, that is MMA, the Nigerian-Kiwi can exact the revenge that he must have been planning for a while. However, he must keep in mind that Pereira is no slouch – two of the three fights he has had in the UFC have come by knockout, with one against Sean Strickland.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)