Israel Adesanya is favored against Alex Pereira at UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 on Saturday, April 8 in Miami, Florida. This event is one of five fights on the main pay-per-view card. Pereira is 7-1 in his career, while Adesanya is 23-2 in his career. There are a total of 14 fights, with five on Pay-Per-View, four on ESPN/ ESPN+, and five on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass at UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2. Let’s look at the bout between Pereira and Adesanya and UFC predictions.
UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 takes place at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida on Saturday, April 8 with 14 fights, with five on Pay-Per-View, four on ESPN/ ESPN+, and five on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya II Betting
Alex Pereira (7-1, 4-0 UFC)
Pereira came into the UFC with a record of 3-1 and he has four wins and no losses in the UFC. He defeated Andreas Michailidis by TKO, Bruno Silva by unanimous decision, Sean Strickland by KO, and Israel Adesanya by TKO. Pereira’s only loss in his career was against Quemuel Ottoni by rear-naked choke submission in October of 2015. Pereira has been a pro since 2015 and he has six wins by TKO/KO and one by decision. He has three first round finishes.
Israel Adesanya (23-2, 12-2 UFC)
Adesanya came into the UFC with a record of 11-0 and he has 12 wins and two losses in the UFC. In his last six fights, he has four wins and two losses. He defeated Paulo Costa by TKO, Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision, Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision, and Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision; while losing to Jan Blachowicz by unanimous decision and Alex Pereira by TKO. Adesanya has been a pro since 2012 and he has 15 wins by TKO/KO and eight by decision. He has seven first round finishes.
Adesanya said this to mirror.co.uk about his upcoming fight against Pereira, “I’m hunting, and I mean that in every sense of the word. The mindset is different, definitely. Even, Eugene (Bareman, his head coach) and I are on the same page. The mindset is definitely different. I like it because it puts it all on me, and it’s kind of poetic in a way. One life: Roll the dice. This is my last shot, and I’m going to give to it all I’ve got in every sense of the word.”
Michael Bisping said this to mmajunkie.usatoday.com about the upcoming fight between Pereira and Adesanya, “I think he’s probably going to do similar to the first fight, but you never know. Maybe he’s going to come out there and go for a double-leg takedown right off the bat because he was the better grappler. He’s just a better grappler, simple as that. He took him down (and) controlled him for a little bit. And who knows – he might be trying to go for a submission this time, because the thing is, you don’t have to be a great wrestler to learn the mechanics to do a double-leg takedown. Certainly when you’re Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira isn’t necessarily going to expect that off the bat. So I’m just going to throw it out there: Don’t be surprised if you see Izzy go out there, pretend to trade on the feet, double jab, right hand, whatever the combination may be, to get a reaction from Pereira. And when the arms come up, you level change, you shoot in, you get your arms around the leg, run him into the fence, pick him up, slam him down, and there you go. Now listen – of course you know Pereira, training with the likes of Glover Texieira, and of course Chuck Liddell – they’ve been there, done it, got the T-shirt. They know how to get back to the feet. But the element of surprise from Israel Adesanya – he might just catch him. You never know.”
Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Pereira 5.23 / Adesanya 3.93
Striking Accuracy: Pereira 59% / Adesanya 50%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Pereira 3.63 / Adesanya 2.80
Defense: Pereira 53% / Adesanya 58%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Pereira 0.33 / Adesanya 0.06
Takedown Accuracy: Pereira 100% / Adesanya 14%
Takedowns defended: Pereira 73% / Adesanya 77%
Submission average: Pereira 0.0/ Adesanya 0.2
UFC Picks
I know that Pereira got the win the last time these two fought, but I still think Adesanya is the better fighter. This is a legacy fight for Adesanya, as he simply can’t afford another loss to Pereira. I think Adesanya gets revenge for the last loss and the price at -140 on Adesanya is definitely reasonable.
| DATE | FIGHTERS | MONEY LINE |
| 4/8 | Alex Pereira | +115 |
| Israel Adesanya | -145 |
| 4/8 | Jorge Masvidal | +365 |
| Gilbert Burns | -525 |
| 4/8 | Rob Font | +146 |
| Adrian Yanez | -185 |
| 4/8 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | +218 |
| Kevin Holland | -285 |
| 4/8 | Christian Rodriguez | +194 |
| Raul Rosas Jr. | -250 |
| 4/8 | Kelvin Gastelum | -125 |
| Chris Curtis | -105 |
| 4/8 | Michelle Waterson-Gomez | +140 |
| Luana Pinheiro | -176 |
| 4/8 | Chase Sherman | -230 |
| Chris Barnett | +179 |
| 4/8 | Gerald Meerschaert | +158 |
| Joe Pyfer | -200 |
| 4/8 | Cynthia Calvillo | +214 |
| Lupita Godinez | -280 |
| 4/8 | Steve Garcia | +168 |
| Shayilan Nuerdanbieke | -215 |
| 4/8 | Sam Hughes | +197 |
| Jaqualine Amorim | -255 |
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