Henry Cejudo says "only way" Israel Adesanya can beat Alex Pereira is by 'playing the matador'
Henry Cejudo recently shared his thoughts on how Israel Adesanya can defeat Alex Pereira in their rematch. The former champ-champ claimed that Adesanya needs to keep his distance as a "matador" does when he faces Pereira again.
'Poatan' unexpectedly knocked out Adesanya in the fifth round of their first MMA bout against each other. Pereira caught Adesanya against the cage and bombarded him with vicious shots before the referee stopped the contest. However, Adesanya did manage to dominate the early rounds, almost knocking the Brazilian out towards the end of the first.
Kamaru Usman ❌
Charles Oliveira ❌
Israel Adesanya ❌
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With strong speculation about an immediate rematch between the two old foes, 'Triple C' has weighed in on Adesanya's chances against the Brazilian.
Speaking on his YouTube podcast, Cejudo stated what Adesanya needs to do in order to win:
"The only way Israel beats Alex Pereira is if he plays a matador. He just needs to play the distance game and kick his legs. Play a distance game, stick and move. Because you notice, Alex Pereira is not as swift with his hands... but he has power... I said it before guys, the way you beat Israel is to kick his legs."
Watch Henry Cejudo's full podcast episode below:
Cejudo feels that the Nigerian-born Kiwi must stay out of Pereira's striking distance at all costs.
Israel Adesanya will likely get a rematch with Alex Pereira next year, considering his accomplishments in the UFC. Now 0-3 against Pereira across MMA and kickboxing, 'The Last Stylebender' will be itching to reclaim his title and get his revenge.
Israel Adesanya claims he fought Alex Pereira with a PCL injury and almost pulled out of the title fight
Israel Adesanya stated that he was not fully fit leading up to his title fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281, suffering from a PCL injury he picked up against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276.
In an interview on the FLAGRANT podcast, Adesanya opened up about the injury he carried during his training camp:
"Breaking news, I was going to pull out of this fight early on... This time with the last fight with Cannonier, I hurt my PCL. Early in camp, there were some problems... Maybe like three weeks I just did boxing."
'The Last Stylebender' continued:
"So, I was gonna pull out early but I was like, 'Nah, I wanna get this done.' Because I am a prideful man... I knew I wanted to fight. I knew I wanted to fight and also make a point of fighting three times this year."
Watch Israel Adesanya on the podcast below: