"He's got confidence" - John McCarthy discusses Alex Pereira's chances in middleweight title clash against Israel Adesanya

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Alex Pereira (left) and Israel Adesanya (right). [Images courtesy: both images via Getty Images]

A title showdown between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira's was recently announced for the UFC 281 main event. The two middleweights have history from their kickboxing days, but on November 12, their rivalry will extend to the octagon for the first time.

During a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast, former UFC referee John McCarthy spoke about Pereira's likely approach heading into this fight, saying:

"Pereira's been able to beat Adesanya. He is the better kickboxer. He's got the power, he's got more power than Adesanya. He [Pereira] is the guy that has beaten him [Adesanya] and knocked him out. And Pereira, you're looking at a guy that- he's got confidence. He doesn't have to worry about Adesanya being the wrestler, trying to take him down."

McCarthy suggested that 'Poatan' had a lot going for him with this matchup, notably the mental edge of knowing that he previously beat Adesanya. 'Big John' then touched upon how 'The Last Stylebender' might deal with Pereira's striking threat:

"Adesanya knows in the back of his mind, 'I gotta be careful here, I got a guy with four-ounce gloves now. I gotta be very careful in what I do because he has hurt me in the past.' Maybe we'll see Adesanya all of a sudden become the grappler and try to put him down."

Check out John McCarthy's full comments on his podcast below:

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Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira hit out at each other through Instagram captions

After the fight's announcement, Israel Adesanya posted on Instagram and sent a warning to Pereira. He captioned the post:

"📖😈 #UFC281 "Vengeance is mine says the lord.” Brooooo I said the same thing too!! This ends here. Kill or be killed ⚔️"

Promising to avenge the only knockout losses of his professional combat sports career, Adesanya expressed how far he's willing to go to have his hand raised at UFC 281.

In response, 'Poatan' took the moral high ground and criticized the vengeful approach. He took to Instagram with a video captioned:

"Revenge is never full, it kills the soul and poisons."

Both fighters have said their pieces and made clear their intentions. Come UFC 281, they will look to give it their all inside the octagon.

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