Israel Adesanya is eager to finally get that elusive win over Alex Pereira, maybe a little too eager according to his coach Eugene Bareman.
“The last stylebender” hopes to win the UFC Middleweight Championship when Pereira rematches him at UFC 287 April 8. It will actually be the fourth time the two meet in a combat sports contest, with Pereira also holding two kickboxing victories over Adesanya.
Pereira beat Adesanya in a thrilling fifth-round TKO during UFC 281 last November. While it appeared possible Pereira would defend his title against someone new or even challenge for the light heavyweight title, Pereira is a two-division champion of Glory Kickboxing and a UFC bout for their long-time adversaries was scheduled quickly.
On The MMA Hour , Bareman suggests that Adesanya might have done better pushing back the revenge match after undergoing minor ankle surgery.
“If I had a choice, which I quite often don’t, then I would probably have waited longer just to give Israel a little bit more time between a stoppage like that and the next fight,” Bareman said. In an ideal world, I’d have done the same thing in boxing. I would have brought in a couple of guys for Israel to warm up on and then fight [Pereira]. We don’t have the option in the UFC. And, frankly, Israel is 100 per cent determined that he will be fighting Alex Pereira next. Beyond all doubt.
“So much so that when they were talking about Pereira fighting–I can’t remember, it was for one particular card, I think they had no main event or they had someone pull out of a main event at the end of last year–so much so that when there was talk that Pereira was going to fight, Israel was like, ‘We’ll fight.’ Before Israel had his surgery and everything, Israel was prepared to take the fight on four to five weeks’ notice if Pereira was willing to take the fight.”
It is unclear whether Bareman refers to UFC 283,, which required a new main show in a hurry following a rematch of the light heavyweight champion rematch between Jiri Prochazka & Glover Teixeira was cancelled due to Prochazka’s injury. However, Adesanya got his wish.
Not only is Adesanya looking to wash the bitter taste of three previous defeats out of his mouth, the most recent loss was particularly difficult to swallow given that he lost via a standing TKO that had some questioning referee Marc Goddard’s decision to stop the fight. Bareman didn’t factor in the circumstances of that stoppage when it came to considering a rematch.
“Disagree” Bareman stated when asked whether he believed the UFC 281 main events was canceled early. “You know my background, so I could quite possibly just have an innate feeling to err on the side of caution, but I believe the chances of Israel coming out of that without being further hurt were minimal. He would probably be even more hurt.
“And to that end, I’m glad he stopped it, because he prevented Israel from being damaged even further and we’re in the position now where we’re able to be healthy and have a second go of it, trying to beat that monster. I’m happy with the stoppage.”
If not April, Bareman would like to have seen the next Pereira vs. Adesanya fight pushed back a month or two, but he’s pleased with how preparations have gone even with the fight happening sooner than he’d hoped.
“I would have been happy with May, June, but give or take, I’m okay with the timeline that we have,” Bareman said. We are in the same frame of mind as before, because Izzy has been working out for quite some time now. The days are being calculated and tracked, so we are in a good place. We’re always in an OK spot this far out. Our spot is always one where more can happen.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/2/20/23603647/israel-adesanya-coach-would-have-liked-adesanya-to-take-longer-break-before-alex-pereira-rematch?rand=96749
