Israel Adesanya will try to regain his title in the fourth battle with the opponent Alex Pereira this spring.
Pereira will defend her middleweight title against Adesanya in the co-main event of UFC 287 on April 8, UFC president Dana White announced Friday. Jorge Masvidal will come back against Burn Gilbert in the other main co-op event, while the popular class Kevin the Netherlands will undertake Santiago Ponzinibbio on the main card, White said.
A location for UFC 287 has yet to be announced.
Pereira beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing and knocked him out last November in the fifth round in their first MMA fight together at UFC 281 to claim the title.
Adesanya is 4th place in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Pereira (7-1) is leading 4-0 in the UFC with three wins by KO/TKO. The Brazilian-born boxer, who trains in Connecticut, only started his full-time MMA career in 2020. Pereira, 35, was once one of the best kickboxers in the world, holding Glory titles in the middleweight and middleweight division. light weight.
Adesanya (23-2) has been the UFC middleweight champion since 2019 before Pereira’s win. The New Zealander of Nigerian descent lost just one MMA match before November, in the light heavyweight division in the 2021 title match against Jan Blachowicz.
Adesanya, 33 years old, has successfully defended the middleweight belt 5 times.
Masvidal (35-16) has lost three fights in a row but remains one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster. The 38-year-old Miami fighter owns the fastest knockout in UFC history – winning by knee in 5 seconds Ben Askren in 2019.
Burns (21-5), a 36-year-old former championship contender from Brazil who is training in Florida, is about to win the first round before Neil Magny on Saturday at UFC 283.
