Israel
Adesanya has come under fire for his performances in recent
fights, in particular a relatively uneventful five-round verdict
over Jared
Cannonier in his latest title defense at UFC 276 on July 2.
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Dana White, who did not attend the card live, gave his first
thoughts on the bout following UFC on ABC 3 this past Saturday. The
UFC president didn’t place the blame entirely on Adesanya for a
fight that was widely criticized throughout the MMA community.
“He won,” White said. “I mean, I don’t know if it was the
performance that he wanted to give or that he was selling leading
into that fight. The other thing is I don’t think his opponent was
very aggressive, either. It takes two to make a great fight. …It
won’t happen in the next fight.”
That next fight, of course, is expected to be against Alex
Pereira, who owns a pair of victories over Adesanya in the
kickboxing ring — including one by way of knockout. Pereira punched
his ticket to a title shot with a first-round knockout of Sean
Strickland on the same card. White has no doubt that Adesanya
vs. Pereira will deliver on its considerable hype.
“When you’re sitting here in my position, you can’t give too many
guarantees,” White said. “I can say, ‘Stylistically on paper this
should be,’ you know, or, ‘We feel this is gonna be’ … I f—-ing
guarantee you. I absolutely, positively guarantee you that the next
fight that Israel
Adesanya fights will be bats—t nuts.”