Alex Pereira is set to defend his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka in their highly anticipated match at UFC 303 in Las Vegas. Former UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who has a great history with Pereira, has given his opinion on the UFC 303 headlines and predicted that a new champion will emerge.
Adesanya expressed his confidence in Jiri
“The Last Stylebender” have faced each other several times in kickboxing and MMA and both have scored knockout wins in their most recent UFC bouts. Recently, on his YouTube channel, Adesanya shared his insight, expressing confidence in Prochazka’s winning chances. “I’m going to go for Jiri because we are the chosen few. The Nigerian fighter further stated that he thinks Jiri has learned from his mistakes and that makes things interesting as well. Adesanya pressed on the fact that if Prochazka wins, fans will get to see a trilogy. “I won’t be the only guy to knock this guy out. I’m going to go to Jiri, and I’m going to go by third round or fourth round finish,” Adesanya further said.
Both fighters took the fight on short notice
Pereira won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship by stopping Prochazka at UFC 295 last November. Both fighters came back to action at UFC 300 in April, with “Poatan” knocking out Jamahal Hill and the Czech fighter defeating Aleksandar Rakic via TKO. The rematch between Pereira and Prochazka became the UFC 303 headliner on just two weeks’ notice. The bout replaced the originally scheduled Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler clash due to the Irishman’s injury. Adesanya believes that short-notice fights between the fighters add great excitement to the clash.
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Adesanya explained that both fighters will have different approaches to the fight because they both know what can happen. According to Adesanya, Pereira knows he can be touched and hurt by Jiri, it will be more calculated since they have taken the fight on short notice. Both fighters are fit, but if the fight is five rounds, the mindset will be to finish each other. When a fighter takes a fight on short notice, this is the mindset they have, because lasting five rounds if a fighter is not fit can be bad for them.
