"Uncharted waters" - Chael Sonnen on why Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira is one of the most unique matchups in UFC history
Chael Sonnen has explained why Israel Adesanya’s potential MMA fight against Alex Pereira would be one of the most unique matchups in UFC history. Adesanya has already fought Pereira twice, albeit in kickboxing bouts rather than MMA.
Pereira won both fights, beating ‘The Last Stylebender’ via a unanimous decision in 2016 and a third-round KO in 2017. In an edition of Beyond the Fight, Sonnen addressed a possible Adesanya vs. Pereira UFC bout.
Sonnen suggested that elite grapplers have long dominated MMA, while kickboxers have struggled to do so. He emphasized that the Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira matchup marks a rare instance of two elite kickboxers in the same weight class fighting each other for UFC gold.
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Additionally, Sonnen opined that the threat of a takedown would be non-existent in their MMA fight, give both fighters' preference for striking. Sonnen stated:
“This is a very interesting match, and this is uncharted waters. And no matter what level of experts you wanna be and you wanna come out and pretend, you will be no more of an expert than what I just laid out for you right now. This has not happened before. There is no paradigm, there is no blueprint, and there is no example.”
Furthermore, Sonnen pointed out that a lot has been made of the fact that Adesanya vs. Pereira will be contested with 4-ounce MMA gloves, instead of the larger kickboxing gloves used in their last two bouts. Sonnen insinuated that he doesn’t fully understand how this might affect their third fight.
Moreover, Sonnen asserted that we must seek the opinions of legendary kickboxers such as Maurice Smith, Rick Roufus, Duke Roufus, Henri Hooft, Ray Sefo, and Tyrone Spong regarding how the matchup could play out.
Watch Sonnen discuss the topic at 3:38 in the video below:
Alex Pereira on his potential UFC bout with Israel Adesanya
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and 185-pound contender Alex Pereira are both coming off impressive victories at UFC 276. Adesanya cruised to a unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier. Meanwhile, Pereira secured a thunderous first-round KO victory over Sean Strickland.
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Alex Pereira later spoke to BT Sport and discussed the possibility of fighting ‘Izzy’ for the title next. When asked what he’d do differently compared to Israel Adesanya’s other opponents inside the octagon, ‘Poatan’ claimed that he has much better defense and overall stand-up skills than them. Pereira said:
“Well, improve and be a better version of myself. I’ll be improving a lot, and do better, even better – to have a better display of what I did in those two previous fights.”
Watch Pereira’s interview below: