Firas Zahabi thinks a glaring difference between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira is their defense.
Middleweight champion Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) defends his title against Pereira (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 281 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Pereira holds two wins over Adesanya in kickboxing, including one by knockout. But Zahabi thinks Adesanya performed better in those fights overall.
“I think Israel Adesanya is going to win,” Zahabi said on his YouTube channel. “Why is he going to win? I went over their fights, I went over their footage. … I thought Adesanya won their first meeting. Their second fight, Adesanya was putting it on him and then he came back in the next round and got knocked out bad.
“Pereira has one of the greatest left hooks I’ve ever seen. (He’s an) incredibly dangerous man – incredible kicking power, incredible scissor knee. He’s an incredible finisher, yes. However, why am I picking Adesanya if (Pereira is) such a great finisher? Adesanya’s defense is much greater.”
Zahabi says Pereira has shown a tendency to get hit during his MMA fights, which he sees Adesanya exploiting. He pointed to his unanimous decision win over Bruno Silva as an example.
“Even in his UFC fights, he’s been hit,” Zahabi said. “One of his UFC fights, he got hit hard and he got hit often. He ended up winning a decision – still very impressive, but nonetheless, if you watch Pereira’s fights, as devastating as he is, sometimes he’s not consistently so and he does get hit a lot. Now Adesanya has consistently been performing every single fight. Take out his Blachowicz fight – he fought a guy who’s way too heavy for him.
“He’s been incredibly consistent his entire career, and I expect him to be consistent again this weekend. I expect him to have better footwork, better distance control, better defense and very similar offense. Adesanya is also a finisher. Adesanya has greater variety, Adesanya switches sides, Adesanya’s footwork is far better. Am I giving Pereira no chance to win? Not at all. I’m giving this a 51-49 in favor of Adesanya. Israel Adesanya also has the option to take Alex down.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.
