The middleweight division is about to get more interesting now that Israel Adesanya is the champ no more. Sure, it was interesting to see the Kiwi pull his cringe antics on other clueless fighters but his last fights were rather boring. Champion Alex Pereira is currently eyeing a return to defend his middleweight title but the opponent might catch many by surprise.
Earlier Israel wanted to break his cycle of defeat by defeating his longtime rival Alex ‘Paotan’ Pereira. Alex had already defeated Izzy twice in kickboxing and many were expecting a new outcome inside the Octagon. The fight started in a very competitive manner as Adesanya kept chipping on his opponent. But Pereira unleashed a last-round blitz and defeated the style bender.
Many expected an immediate rematch between the duo just like Leon vs Usman as the fight was very close. Even Dana White said in a press conference that a rematch was inbound should nothing goes wrong. But now the champion himself has stirred up the conversations involving his return and has a new opponent in mind.
In a recent interview, the Brazilian said, “I want to come back in April or May. I will be ready for those dates. There’s nothing in the works now, and I know probably it’s going to be Izzy with a rematch, or probably Robert Whittaker. No preference, Izzy or Robert, [I’m] going to be ready.”
The Champ’s comments make a lot of sense as the middleweight division is in a very confusing state at the moment. Robert Whittaker’s recent bout got canceled owing to his opponent Paulo Costa’s contract issues, Jared Cannonier just recently lost his title fight, Marvin Vettori lost his match against Whittaker and Khamzat hasn’t really fought anyone significant in the UFC.
Since Robert has pretty much cleared out his entire division, he seems to be the best candidate for the next championship fight. Do you have any better challenger in mind?
