MIAMI – It seemed as soon as viewers had a millisecond to digest [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s knockout victory Saturday over [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] at UFC 287, questions emerged about a trilogy meeting in MMA between the two rivals.
Following the conclusion of the main event, UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], 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.
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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.