"The element of surprise from Israel Adesanya. He might just catch him, you never know."
Michael Bisping thinks Israel Adesanya should mix in some grappling early against Alex Pereira.
Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will look to reclaim the middleweight title from Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) when the pair rematch in the UFC 287 headliner April 8 in Miami.
Adesanya was en route to a win over Pereira at UFC 281 before “Poatan” rallied to knock him out late in Round 5. Bisping sees Adesanya as both the better kickboxer and grappler, but says he needs to utilize his wrestling earlier to keep Pereira guessing.
“I think he’s probably going to do similar to the first fight, but you never know,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “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.”
Adesanya landed one takedown against Pereira, but had 6:34 of control time in the first fight. He was slightly outstruck overall, but was up 3-1 on all three judges’ scorecards before he was stopped in Round 5.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
