Israel Adesanya will finally get his chance to avenge a brutal KO loss to Alex Pereira in their now famous kickboxing match in 2017. Pereira holds a 2-0 record against Adesanya who now sits atop the UFC’s middleweight division with the belt securely around his waist. As fate would have it, Alex landed in the division and after a 3-0 run he is getting a shot at the belt and thus giving Israel the opportunity for redemption. It’s clear that the reason for this match-up is for Adesanya to get his win back more than Alex winning the belt.
Normally, a fighter with two wins over another would be seen as the clear favorite but that is not the case at all here. When the pair face off in the main event of UFC 281 on November 12th the odds makers are seeing Pereira’s left hook as more of a threat than predicted.
Here are the odds (via YardBarker)
Adesanya -165
Pereira +140
The real question will be how much hesitation Adesanya will have to exchange. Will he try and take it to the ground or will his pride demand he try and knock Pereira out in revenge?