At UFC 287, Israel Adesanya finally claimed a victory over Alex Pereira, but according to one MMA star, it wasn’t enough to surpass Anderson Silva in the ‘all-time great’ conversation.
Utilising his incredible timing, ‘Stylebender’ not only proved that he possessed the physical skillset to defeat his rival, but the mindset too.
Getting in the cage is a terrifying prospect full stop, never mind against someone who’s rendered you unconscious on two occasions. So to win in such an explosive manner adds an extra sprinkling of sauce on top of what was already an incredible career.
However, he’s yet to break the record of the legendary ‘Spider’, and according to Jared Gordon, that prevents him from being able to claim that he’s the best to ever to do it at 185 pounds.
Speaking to Betway, he said: “Israel is definitely up there in the GOAT conversations, but he has to surpass what Anderson Silva did in order to be called the best. He could move up to 205 pounds to win the belt over there – then you can call him the ”GOAT” but until then, he has more work to do.”
But while some think pursuing another shot at the 205-pound crown is the right move, most fans want to see him get back in the octagon with Pereira.
Read: Israel Adesanya: Five opponents for ‘Style Bender’ after UFC 287 (sporf.com)
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira 3
While the Nigerian-born Kiwi’s victory was a sight to behold, in the grand scheme of things, he’s still 3-1 down. Therefore, like most, Gordon, who recently received an extremely controversial decision loss to Paddy Pimblett, would love to watch the trilogy.
The lightweight claimed: “Both Israel and Alex Pereira are so good in the ring together, so it’s a great question about the trilogy. One minute Israel wins, the next night Alex wins. I think that Adesanya is the better MMA fighter, whilst Pereira has shown that he is one of the best strikers ever. He did beat Israel three times before, so it is 50-50 at this point.”
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