If Sean O’Malley was betting $10,000, he’d put it on Israel Adesanya to beat Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will seek revenge in Saturday’s headliner when he looks to reclaim the middleweight title from Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Pereira rallied to finish Adesanya late in Round 5 at UFC 281, but O’Malley envisions an Adesanya finish, and thinks Pereira’s big weight cut will impact his durability. “Poatan” has teased a move to light heavyweight in the past, and his coach and mentor Glover Teixeira told MMA Junkie he even could have a future at heavyweight.
“How much weight is (Pereira) cutting? Izzy really doesn’t have to land clean too many times if he’s cutting that much weight,” O’Malley said on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast. “That motherf*cker’s cutting 20 pounds, 25 pounds. Fight week, your chin goes, your brain fluid (goes).”
O’Malley pointed to Adesanya’s control time in his first fight with Pereira as a factor and sees him leaning on his wrestling.
“I think (Adesanya will) come out and wrestle,” O’Malley added. “I feel like he’s going to come out, he’s got a couple maybe good takedowns, come out (and) wrestle, put him on his back, really get him thinking. Maybe (Pereira) won’t be able to march forward as much.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
