Israel Adesanya thinks his former rival Alex Pereira isn\u2019t in the right headspace coming into his second heavyweight fight at UFC 335 in December.<\/p>\n
Pereira is set to face Sergei Pavlovich in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 12th. It\u2019s a big fight for \u201cPoatan\u201d because it represents his last chance at heavyweight. If he loses, Pereira has made it clear he\u2019ll leave the division<\/a> and return to 205 pounds where he was a two-time champ.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows I\u2019m not as heavy as those heavyweights,\u201d Pereira recently said during a Connect Cast interview. \u201cI\u2019m not going to stay there taking a beating with that disadvantage. I\u2019d go back to my division, where I was already well adapted. It would be for the [light heavyweight] belt.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a bad consolation prize at all should Pereira lose, but he\u2019s setting himself up mentally for failure according to Israel Adesanya.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me,\u201d Adesanya said. \u201cI saw a clip of Pereira saying if he loses to Pavlovich, he\u2019s going back down to 205. I don\u2019t like that. I don\u2019t like that he\u2019s putting that out there. Because what the f–k you mean, \u201cf I lose?\u2019 I don\u2019t know why he\u2019s taking this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Some fighters need to create a situation in their minds where the idea of losing never even occurs to them. That may work for some, but Pereira has always been extremely pragmatic regarding his fights, admitting that he could lose in any one of them. The only difference now? Everyone else feels the same way this time after what happened against Ciryl Gane.<\/p>\n