Israel Adesanya poses on the scale during the UFC 281 ceremonial weigh-in at Radio City Music Hall on November 11, 2022 in New York City. Photo / Cooper Neill / Zuffa LLC
Israel Adesanya poses on the scale during the UFC 281 ceremonial weigh-in at Radio City Music Hall on November 11, 2022 in New York City. Photo / Cooper Neill / Zuffa LLC
Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira will square off in Miami for the middleweight title in a hotly anticipated rematch between two of the best fighters the UFC has seen.
Pereira stunned the MMA world last November when he beatAdesanya by TKO, taking the Kiwi’s belt and handing him his first loss ever in UFC in the middleweight division. This is Pereira’s first title defence.
He previously beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing fights, and Adesanya is determined to win their UFC rematch to prove the Brazilian doesn’t have his number.
Gilbert Burns is also taking on Jorge Masvidal in the welterweight co-main event.
In the last of the preliminary fights, Kelvin Gastelum defeated Chris Curtis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in an epic middleweight scrap that’s already been called the fight of the year.
In his first fight in 18 months, No. 13 middleweight contender Gastelum absorbed some heavy blows from Curtis, but was the better over the three rounds.
“This is the best version of Kelvin - this is when we see Kelvin the world title contender,” Joe Rogan said in commentary.
Canadian rapper Drake will have fans of Israel Adesanya worried after he put a massive bet on him to beat Pereira.
Drake has wagered a total of $900,000 on Adesanya to reclaim his middleweight title and for him to do it via a knockout.
He’s also bet a total of $500,000 on Jorge Masvidal to beat Gilbert Burns via KO.
Drake shared his wagers in an Instagram post captioned: “Off the leash”.
The rapper has a long history of betting huge amounts of money on sporting events, but his poor conversion rate has become known as the ‘Drake curse’.
For Adesanya and Masvidal’s sake, here’s hoping the curse doesn’t strike again.
Will the Drake curse strike again? Photo / Instagram
Adesanya desperate to win back belt
Israel Adesanya has claimed underdog status, but is adamant he can defeat Pereira for the first time ever and win back the middleweight belt he owned for so long.
“Not many people get the opportunity to show how great they are, to rise to the occasion when all the odds are stoked against them and people are counting them out,” Adesanya said earlier this week.
“And for me, this fight, I feel like the underdog. I feel like everyone is counting me out. I feel like because of the result of the last fight - goldfish memory. They forgot what I’ve done in this game. It’s time to remind people how great I am.”
