Earlier than getting his topknot kicked crooked at UFC 303, Jiří Procházka accused Pereira of utilizing “magic” and “spells” to win their earlier struggle, which is as hilarious as it’s weird. However on the off probability that’s it’s true, Pereira’s GOAT resume may benefit from a spell that grants Izzy the braveness to provide 205 a second probability.
In 2021, following a choice loss in his debut gentle heavyweight bout in opposition to then-champion Jan Błachowicz, Adesanya spoke one among his favourite idioms: “Dare to be nice.” It’s a saying he’s repeated since, generally adopted by an affirmation: “And I’m.” He stated this at a time in his profession when language was his personal kind of magic, a narrativizing pressure so highly effective it’d flip the world right into a manga web page and bend future into the form of the anime arc in his head. Someplace alongside the best way, although, even perhaps earlier than getting beat up by Strickland and choked out by DDP, Adesanya stopped daring to be nice and now prefers to imagine he already his.
Given the “final aim wins” angle he’s taken after lastly defeating Pereira in his fourth attempt in two sports activities, it’s clear, a minimum of to me, what’s stopping the 2 from finishing their MMA trilogy: Adesanya needs no elements of Poatan’s full energy at gentle heavyweight. Regardless of being visibly extra muscular than he was the primary time he moved up, having completely no attention-grabbing matchups left for him at middeweight, and probably having a greater probability in opposition to a striker at 205 than he did in opposition to a wrestler like Błachowicz, the previous champion appears content material avoiding one other struggle together with his nemesis. In flip, this makes each of their claims to greatness appear barely much less daring.
Positive, Pereira’s transfer to heavyweight may and will occur with or with out an MMA tie-breaker with Adesanya. However think about how way more particular it’d be if it got here after an historic Brazilian ritual granted Izzy his former spirit and compelled him to finish the best UFC rivalry within the trendy period.
