Former UFC Middleweight Champion Vows to Unretire Only if ‘Brazilian Dude’ Alex Pereira Beats Israel Adesanya

Former UFC middleweight champion is seemingly open to coming out of retirement if Alex Pereira beats Israel Adesanya in their UFC middleweight championship matchup.

Interestingly, Adesanya and Pereira have had quite a history. The two have faced each other on two previous occasions, in kickboxing, where the Brazilian won in both instances.

However, Israel Adesanya has managed to find tremendous success since making his UFC debut. On the flip side, Alex Pereira has been on a great run as well. He made his UFC debut last year and now finds himself in a position where he can potentially become the UFC middleweight champion by beating Adesanya.

Speaking about the highly anticipated UFC middleweight championship bout during an interview with Submission Radio, Luke Rockhold suggested that he will be willing to come back if Alex Pereira manages to beat Israel Adesanya.

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While suggesting that Alex Pereira is being targeted by wrestlers because he lacks wrestling skills, Luke Rockhold said:

“That Brazilian dude winning the title. Alex Pereira. You have every wrestler in the f**ling game just chomping at the bit to get that guy. Let’s go. Let’s get a free belt.”

Can Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya again?

As mentioned earlier, Alex Pereira has beaten Israel Adesanya on two previous occasions, in 2016 and 2017. However, it is worth noting that ‘The Last Stylebender’ was fairly dominant in their kickboxing rematch before getting knocked out.

Alex Pereira is currently just three fights into his UFC career. And is coming off an emphatic knockout victory against Sean Strickland. On the flip side, Israel Adesanya has been the force to be reckoned with in the middleweight division. While ‘The Last Stylebender’ has received his fair share of criticism for “boring” fights, he gets the job done.

Israel Adesanya is set to defend his middleweight title against Alex Pereira at #UFC281 in MSG 🗽 pic.twitter.com/9bOC6AxT2A

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 5, 2022

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So, it is safe to say that the upcoming matchup is certainly one to look forward to. That said, it will be interesting to see if Alex Pereira can dethrone Israel Adesanya in only his fourth fight inside the octagon.

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