Once again, I'm worried for Izzy. However, I do think the pressure is largely off. He's already lost his belt, and now it's all about proving it to himself. He's definitely the better fighter in terms of technical fighting, but he seems to not be able to avoid the power of Alex Pereira. Honestly, odds of 1.70 for Izzy are nice, and the decision win for him is even nicer. So, I might put that on my betting slip just for fun, as I can see that happening. I don't see Izzy knocking out Alex, even though in the most recent fight he did stun Alex.
The thing is, I worry when Alex gets close, and closes the distance. As soon as he did that, Izzy was worried, and it only took a few seconds to get him out of there as soon as he managed to close the distance. I'm wondering whether Izzy has learned from that, and will put on more of a hit, and move sort of fight style this time around.
Here's my predictions:
Israel Adesanya by decision
Gilbert Burns by which ever way he wants
Adrian Yanez
Kevin Holland
Raul Rosas Jr.
Chris Curtis
Luana Pinheiro
Gerald Meerschaert
Lupita Godinez
Ignacio Bahamondes
Shayilan Nuerdanbieke
Jaqueline Amorim
Heard some words swirling around that Adesanya trained a lot for wrestling coming into the event. I'm not sure if it's a wise move as Pereira is a huge heavy guy. Adesanya will prolly gas himself out early if he tries to take Pereira down but won't take him on the ground. He could use the wrestling late in the match tho and avoid having the R5 moment of the first fight happening again. Lol.
Weigh in vid and weigh in results below... Enjoy.
UFC 287: Ceremonial Weigh In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVFhVV2DNycChamp Alex Pereira (185) vs Israel Adesanya (184.5) – for middleweight title
Gilbert Burns (170) vs Jorge Masvidal (171)
Rob Font (135) vs Adrian Yanez (135.5)
Kevin Holland (170.5) vs Santiago Ponzinibbio (171)
Christian Rodriguez (137)* vs Raul Rosas Jr. (135)
Kelvin Gastelum (185) vs Chris Curtis (186)
Luana Pinheiro (115.5) vs Michelle Waterson-Gomez (116)
Chase Sherman (249.5) vs Karl Williams (241)
Gerald Meerschaert (185.5) vs Joe Pyfer (185.5)
Cynthia Calvillo (116) vs Loopy Godinez (115.5)
Ignacio Bahamondes (159.5) vs Trey Ogden (159.5)
Steve Garcia (145.5) vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (146)
Jaqueline Amorim (115.5) vs Sam Hughes (116)