Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira may not live up to the hype, claims Joaquin Buckley
Israel Adesanya will likely face former kickboxing foe Alex Pereira for his next title defense at 185lbs. Middleweight prospect Joaquin Buckley believes the matchup might not end up being the absolute barnburner people are expecting it to be.
According to 'New Mansa', Pereira's style guarantees an exciting matchup only when the Brazilian's opponent chooses to engage with him. Buckley believes Adesanya will resort to his signature stick-and-move game plan to retain his middleweight strap. The 28-year-old said in a recent interview with Full Mount MMA:
"There's nobody else for him to fight right now. Actually I wanna see it too, you know? But I just don't think the fight is going to be as massive or as exciting as people thinkl it might be. Just because, the style that Alex Pereira brings, like, it's only exciting if you bring the fight to him. And Izzy's not gonna do that. Izzy's gonna do what he needs to do in order to retain that belt. And I ain't mad at him, you know?"
Watch Buckley's interview with Full Mount MMA below:
Israel Adesanya has cleaned out almost the entire division during his dominant middleweight title reign. Fans are now eager to see 'The Last Stylebender' get tested against Pereira, who holds two kickboxing wins over the middleweight champ, including a knockout in 2016.
Henry Cejudo slams Israel Adesanya for not living up to his hype
Israel Adesanya borrowed 'The Undertaker's' walkout going into his last title defense against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. 'The Last Stylebender' went on to register a comfortable decision victory over 'The Killa Gorilla' in a matchup widely criticized for being lackluster.
According to former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo, 'The Undertaker's' walkout needs to be backed up with an equally exciting performance. 'Triple C' urged the UFC to stop pushing Adesanya, as the middleweight champion doesn't live up to the hype. Cejudo said on The Triple C & Schmo Show:
“He [Adesanya] hypes a lot and he doesn’t deliver. He talks a lot, and he doesn’t deliver. It’s been like that with him for a minute now, and I think if you’re going to call people out and do all this other stuff, finish them. Put a beating on people. Be spectacular. People look forward more to his entrance than his actual fight, and that’s a problem because what you want to be good at is when you fight.”
Watch The Triple C & Schmo Show below: