Bookmakers Give Israel Adesanya An Edge Over Alex Pereira At UFC 287- Is that The Right Decision?

On Saturday, 8th April 2023, Alex Pereira, the middleweight champion, is set to face off against Israel Adesanya for the fourth time.

Thus far, Pereira has outdone Adesanya in both kickboxing matches, with one of the victories being by way of knockout. Moreover, in November of last year at UFC 281, Pereira showed his superiority in Mixed Martial Arts by coming back in the fifth round to take the title from Adesanya with a technical knockout.

Although Pereira has won all three bouts against Adesanya, he is still listed as the underdog with the betting odds at +135. Meanwhile, Adesanya is the favourite at -155.

Here are some of the pre-fight comments on the outcome via the ‘Spinning Back Clique’ podcast.

Brian “Goze” Garcia: “The Early lean would be [for] Israel Adesanya. This fight means everything for him. This is all about his legacy at middleweight… If he can go in there and get the win, I wouldn’t be shocked.”

Farah Hannoun: “I don’t think it signifies a kind of end or anything for Adesanya if he loses to Pereira because he has kind of wiped out the division.

“At the end of the day, if Alex Pereira reigns as champion and stays champion and defends his title for many different years, then ok, that is a different discussion.

“Right now, I think I’m swaying towards Pereira a little bit just because he has the mental advantage with all the wins.”

Danny Segura: “I’m gonna go with Adesanya. Yeah, he did get stopped. But prior to that, he was pretty much putting a whopping on Pereira.”