The current fifth-ranked UFC pound-for-pound fighter, Israel Adesanya, has a solid record of 23 wins out of his 25 professional MMA appearances.
After winning the UFC middleweight title against Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, the Kiwi star reigned as a champion for more than three years while defending the title five times, settling big names like Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker, and Jared Cannonier.
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In this game, we donât keep scoreâŚwe settle them. #insertcointocontinue #UFC287 #wegoagain đ¤ pic.twitter.com/eyDrE3gdht— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 28, 2023
The Last Stylebender tasted his first defeat against Jan Blachowicz at his UFC light heavyweight debut at UFC 259, and the second one was against his longtime archrival Alex Pereira at the main event of UFC 281, where a TKO defeat cost him the UFC middleweight title.
The rivalry between Adesanya and Pereira started in kickboxing, where the Brazilian reigned as champion for several times but the New Zealander failed to clinch any titles; Adesanya even lost to Poatan twice in kickboxing.
As of UFC president Dana Whiteâs last announcement, this deadly duo is set to face off again at the main event of UFC 287 on April 8, and the UFC middleweight title will be on the line for the battle.
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Prior to the fight, Adesanya teased a saw-themed teaser, announcing that he will settle the score this time, and last week, the Brazilian posted a picture on Instagram of himself with the caption, “Pronto pra matar!” which translates to “Ready to kill!”
In the octagon during the UFC 281 fight, a video of Poatan pledging to kill Adesanya went viral, and it appears Pereira captioned the picture to remind the New Zealander and the audience of the incident.
