Israel Adesanya won't let the outcome of his fights with Alex Pereira stop him

Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) has lost to Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) three times in combat sports, twice in kickboxing and once in MMA.

After defending the middleweight title five times, Adesanya was dethroned by Pereira at UFC 281 in November, in a fight he was winning before being stopped at the end of round 5.

But Adesanya will have the opportunity to correct that mistake. The pair will face each other immediately in the main event of UFC 287 on Saturday at Kaseya Arena in Miami.

"I was dominating. I was winning the fight in every exchange, on the standup and on the ground. He recovers very well, that's something I definitely didn't expect, it was his recovery. I beat him up, hurt him, tired him out, but he recovered very well and was able to close the show, so that's something I can definitely take from the last fight in our first four rounds."

When asked how he stays so confident after being down 3-0 against Pereira, Adesanya said that both he and Pereira know how their last two fights went before the end, and "The Stylebender" is excited to prove the skeptics wrong. Adesanya also came close to finishing Pereira when the bell rang to end round 1 of their UFC 281 title fight.

"He and I both know. Fuck the fans, the reporters, all that shit. He and I know exactly what I can do to him. I know what he can do to me. Every time I've fought him, I'm always winning until I'm not. If it was like saying he just beat my ass from bell to bell and then fucked off, I'd probably still have this confidence, I'd probably still be talking shit, but that's not been the case. I'm always winning, I'm always dominating him, until he finds that way to win."