Darren Till predicts Alex Pereira will defeat Israel Adesanya for the fourth time
UFC middleweight contender Darren Till is predicting that middleweight champ Alex Pereira will defeat his rival Israel Adesanya for the fourth time.
Till takes on Dricus Du Plessis this Saturday at UFC 282 in an important middleweight bout, as the winner of this fight will move one step closer to the top of the 185lbs rankings. Of course, the man at the top of the division right now is Pereira, who won the belt one month ago with an incredible fifth-round TKO comeback win over Adesanya. It was Pereira’s third victory in combat sports over Adesanya, having previously defeated him twice in kickboxing. Despite Adesanya getting finished at UFC 281, it’s expected the UFC will book an immediate rematch between these two due to Adesanya’s previous dominance over the middleweight division.
If you ask Till, the quadrilogy between Adesanya and Pereira is the fight that makes sense, but if you ask the Brit, it’s a fight that Adesanya is going to have a hard time winning. Speaking to MMAjunkie.com in a recent interview, Till admitted that while Adesanya deserves an immediate rematch, he doesn’t see him winning it.
“I’ve watched all three fights and the two fights he (Adesanya) was just absolutely winning comfortably. Alex all three times just seems to from somewhere, I don’t know what it is whether he’s got Izzy’s number or what, gets the win and it’s quite terrifying for Izzy because can Izzy beat him? We’ve seen he can – well he can’t because the fifth Alex got it back,” Till said.
“Is a fourth fight worth it? Yeah, you have to because Izzy was the champ for a long time and he was dominant, but Alex has beat him three times and it’s not like a wrestler vs. a striker. They’re both strikers. It’s very tough. I know I’ve lost a fight here and there but if you lose four fights to the same person… I think the fourth fight is warranted but at this point do I see Izzy beating Pereira? For some reason, because Pereira’s won the three fights, no I don’t.”
At this point, the fourth fight between Pereira and Adesanya has not been booked. However, with the UFC recently announcing their first-quarter schedule for 2023, expect this fight to be booked for one of those cards.
Do you agree with Darren Till that Alex Pereira will defeat Israel Adesanya for the fourth time?
