Israel Adesanya reveals his only goal against Alex Pereira at UFC 287, and it's not winning the belt back

Israel Adesanya will face Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in a rematch of their UFC 281 title fight in which 'Poatan' claimed the title. The former middleweight champion recently shared that winning the belt back is not his biggest motivation going into the upcoming bout.

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In this game, we don’t keep score…we settle them. #insertcointocontinue #UFC287 #wegoagain 😤 https://t.co/eyDrE3gdht

Speaking to the media ahead of UFC 284, the No.1-ranked middleweight stated:

"I've never not been motivated to fight this guy, but for this one, I've put the pressure on myself. F**k the belt, f**k everything else, I have to beat this guy. That's, I guess, my motivation - just beating him. Like I said, they can say whatever they want. It's 1-0 or 3-0. I don't keep score, I settle them and I just need one and I'm going to get it done."

In addition to losing his belt to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Adesanya suffered two losses in kickboxing to the middleweight champion. Despite the three losses, 'The Last Stylebender' remains the betting favorite for their upcoming UFC 287 clash.

Watch Israel Adesanya discuss his motivation leading up to UFC 287 below (starting at the 1:45 mark):

Israel Adesanya backs Francis Ngannou's decision to leave the UFC

Francis Ngannou recently became the first reigning champion to leave the UFC since B.J. Penn in 2004. Israel Adesanya recently showed support for the former heavyweight champion.

Francis Ngannou is reportedly now a free agent. According to reports, Ngannou's contract was scheduled to expire towards the end of 2022 📝👀

🔗sportskeeda.com/mma/breaking-f…

#UFC #MMA https://t.co/SsZvKkXuBc

Adesanya shared that he spoke with Ngannou during the process before adding:

"Francis made the right call. He's the one that kicked in the door. We've all been behind him... He's right, it's little things. He's asking for things that should be mandatory. He wasn't asking for crazy, ridiculous, diva-ish demands. Even something as little as for the guys fighting on the opening, having the fourth or third cornerman being paid for and the hotel's being paid for."

Adesanya continued:

"That sets them up nicely and they don't have to fork it out of their ten and ten or maybe even ten to pay for their fourth or third cornerman. Little things like that. He's not being a diva. He's asking for reasonable demands, and I felt like he should've got them. He told me they said, 'that's not how we do business', but the way we do business has to change and it will change. He's just the guy to kick in the door."

The No.1-ranked middleweight added that he believes Ngannou is the greatest heavyweight of all-time while claiming that the mixed martial arts free agent will be back in the UFC at some point.

Watch Israel Adesanya's comments on Francis Ngannou below (starting at the 4:05 mark):