Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya 2 | Dan Hardy Breakdown, The War Room Ep. 258

Hello everybody and welcome to The War Room this  one is for the UFC 287 Main Event the rematch for the Middleweight title Israel Adesanya trying  to get his belt back off Alex Pereira is he gonna do it? who knows it's a good fight though  it's an interesting fight because the first one was a very very interesting back and forth  we saw some surprises from Pereira of course Adesanya was stopped on his feet and a lot  of people would like to have seen that go a little bit longer we'll see what ha

ppens this  time around but of course we want a decisive finish and I think that's what we're gonna get Before we go any further this show is brought to you by our friends at Raid Shadow Legends I keep  telling you I love this game I am addicted to it my new Champion is Tomoe she has been upgraded to five stars now she's been ascended she is a badass and I also have Pain Keeper which is one of my  favourites she's just had a soul stone associated with it so her stats have jumped up as well two o

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ose defeats of course being at light heavyweight against Jan  Błachowicz and then the other one being against someone that is destined to be a light heavyweight  and maybe even a heavyweight in Alex Pereira both 6'4" Adesanya has a one inch reach advantage  I'll be honest Pereira looked a lot bigger than Adesanya he looked uh he looked bigger  than Jan Błachowicz looked against Adesanya and that's saying something because Błachowicz is a thick heavily muscled guy but he's 6'2" and Pereira 6'4" t

hose extra couple of inches as well  as the way that he filled out after the weight cut he he is a he's a bullying frame to be in the  octagon with let me tell you that just standing near him you're like you know he hits hard  you can tell he's got that kind of he's got that kind of frame those kind of hands that you  just know when they connect they're going to do some damage and the thing is with Izzy he's  a I mean I went back and watched all of their fights again yesterday I watched the the

first  one where to be honest Izzy won it you know he out pointed him he was a better striker he landed  better shots Pereira looked surprised when he got the decision but then the second fight of course  Pereira was able to get to him and knock him out cold with a beautiful punch and you know this is  the thing with Pereira like for his for as skilled and as classy and as slick as Adesanya is he has  to be perfect for 25 minutes and the question was against Pereira can he be perfect for 25 minu

tes  the answer was no because when you've got such a presence like Pereira has even if you're being  out-struck or out-pointed by someone like Adesanya your ability to walk forward and bully them  up against the fence increases your chances of landing powerful shots for every one strike  that Pereira lands Adesanya's got to land two or three to do the same kind of damage so there  is a patience that comes with Pereira's style and if you watch the first round the first round was  very telling be

cause of course Adesanya is fresh so he's able to move and slip and roll Pereira is  fresh but not quite as determined to connect with Adesanya as he was in the 5th round but you could  see him get close a couple of times especially with the left hook right at the end watch the last  minute of the first round there were a couple of times where Pereira whistled a left hook right  past the chin of Adesanya and Adesanya being a little bit more tired not quite as reactive to the  shots coming in his

direction or Pereira being you know a few rounds down perhaps and feeling like  he needs to connect with with Adesanya to get the win it changed the equation in the last round  but the moments where we saw Pereira potentially going to catch Adesanya happened all the way  through the fight now there were some surprises particularly the takedowns of Pereira which I was  very very impressed with I mean he just nailed it right at the end of the second round he only got  20 odd seconds of control ou

t of it but the best thing about it was that it was a clear finish of  a takedown he drove and he turned the corner and he put Adesanya on the floor and had he of been  there longer I feel like he would have landed some damaging strikes on the floor as well the thing  is with with with the power punching power the striking power that Pereira's got it doesn't have  to be on his feet with it he doesn't have to be on his - he doesn't have to be in any particular  position because he has that natura

l ability to hurt people Izzy for my money is always gonna have  to work harder against someone like Pereira he's always going to be at a physiological deficit  he might be quicker than Pereira and I do think that Izzy does have that speed advantage but  Pereira still has the ability to land with one shot and change the course of the fight and for  Izzy it's always an accumulation of shots you know even when he has got stoppages on his record  it's been you know Whittaker knocked him down at the

start- at the end of the previous round and  then finished him uh Paolo Costa hit him with a variety of different things cutting before he  ended up dropping him like Pereira can come in there and crack you hard and that's the fight  over whereas Izzy has to be far more calculated and like I've talked about this as a as a bigger  picture thing for mixed martial arts right because if you're an incredibly powerful puncher fights  are over before you've got the opportunity to really kind of gain t

he experience that you would  in your early career like for example if Izzy's had 50 kickboxing matches and Pereira's had 50  kickboxing matches but Pereira's knocked out 30 of them in the first round the actual volume of  work that he's done the actual experience that he's got ringtime is considerably lower than  someone like like Adesanya who's not really a knockout puncher he wasn't as a kickboxer either  so although there's a downside to that because of course it's nice to score knockouts th

e benefit  is that you get additional time in the ring you get time working with different fighters who you  might not be able to knock out but they might be able to knock you out so you have to then really  craft your technical skills and I will always say that like if I'm gonna learn from one of these  two guys I would rather learn from Adesanya because he doesn't have the knockout power to  make his life easier whereas Pereira does now of course Adesanya's going to make Pereira's life  as dif

ficult as possible to inflict that knockout power upon him but he got there in the end in the  last fight even though it was an uphill battle and even though you know Adesanya had really good  moments in the fight I mean you look at the third round he was one for one of takedowns - 100% with  three point 3 minutes and 47 seconds of control now if Adesanya can replicate that for 2 rounds  or even 3 rounds you're looking at really shifting the judge's scorecards in his direction at the  same time

as him being in a range where he's probably safe enough to throw shots and not  get hit and worry about getting knocked out on the flip side if Pereira decides he wants to  come out and grapple this time around and he puts Adesanya on the floor then his punch is coming  from any direction can be can be really really detrimental to Adesanya so it it's always a case  of Adesanya racking up points and being smart and Pereira finding his opportunities to land big  shots now the question really is ho

w does this next fight look different to the one that we've  just watched so the striking was relatively even I mean if you look through the statistics like  first round they both landed 23 significant strikes there was not much of a difference in  effort either um but then you know it starts to shift slightly in Adesanya 's favour but only by  a few strikes and I'm talking significant strikes here so 20 to 17 in the second round 14 to 8 in  the third round 20 to 15 in the fourth round but then

fifth round 9 for Izzy and 28 for Pereira but  28 because right at the end of the fight when he knows he's got Adesanya hurt up against the fence  he's letting go of 10 12 15 shots and any one of those shots can knock him out so it's not really  necessarily about the volume but he did beat he did beat Adesanya on volume on that fifth round  as well up until of course the fight was stopped I think the smart thing to do for both of  these fighters is to grapple more and I was surprised with Izzy w

anting to grapple Pereira  based on the size and the strength of him but when Pereira landed that takedown I thought  to myself that is kind of a - that's a sign as to what the next fight's gonna look like  if you've got Glover Teixeira in your corner he's going to be thinking okay well what's the  best route to victory against Adesanya and we've seen it we saw it from Jan Błachowicz of course  Pereira still got the possibility of backing him up against the fence and catching him with one  of th

ose power shots but you can increase your chances by taking Izzy down and putting him on  his back and beating him up from there and like I said the strikes from Pereira from top position  can be just as effective as the strikes standing now something I did notice that Pereira was doing  very well because of course when he's got Adesanya backed up against the fence he's anticipating  him rolling to escape those hooks and Pereira's got really nice hooks but he does telegraph them  a little bit so

metimes and as he was as he was throwing these hooks Adesanya most the time  was able to roll out and Pereira was dropping a lead knee at the start of it as well now I  think we're going to see a far more aggressive close range version of Pereira I think he gave  Adesanya a lot of respect in the first couple of rounds because it was MMA and Adesanya's you know he's crafted far more of of his of his skills to MMA than Pereira has I still I mean of course 8  fights into his career I still feel lik

e Pereira is finding his feet as a mixed martial artist but  that doesn't mean to say that he's not gonna be able to come out and take Adesanya down and beat  him up on the floor and I think if Glover Teixeira has anything to do with it we're gonna see some  ground and pound from Pereira this time around like if I'm Adesanya I've got to be cautious about  getting backed up against the fence sometimes he opts to be against the fence like say for example  when he was fighting Marvin Vettori he see

ms more comfortable defending takedowns up against the  fence so he opts to put himself with his back against the fence so then if Vettori does level  change he's already got this to lean into to work his his defense I would prefer to defend a  takedown against the fence it slows things down it gives me a bit more time to think and I  would imagine Izzy's in the same situation so if Pereira comes out in the first round  and starts to try and take Izzy down you might find Izzy optionally backing

up to the  fence to make his takedown defense easier in which case then Adesanya has got to deal  with level changes as well as power punches Like the person that makes this mix more  more of a mixed martial arts game is the one in my opinion that he's gonna he's  gonna do better in this second fight like Pereira knows he can knock Adesanya out but  he also knows he can swing a lot of times and miss and lose rounds in the process for Adesanya he  knows he's got to be perfect for the 25 minutes s

o the more time you can spend in in safety which is  on top clinched on the back of Pereira the better we saw it in that third round I thought Adesanya  did a good job of just slowing him down and you know Adesanya doesn't have to be a a world-class  wrestler here he doesn't have to be able to take Pereira down over and over again he doesn't have  to take Pereira down and hold him down but if he if he initiates the thought of wrestling in  Pereira's mind it's something else for him to consider I

was I was amazed I've been amazed so  far that really nobody's like pushed- I mean like Sean Strickland I know he likes to scrap I don't  think he was I think he was trying to maybe prove a point by standing in a trading with him but  Pereira's one loss on his record he was taken down and he was rear naked choked like I would  even think that people aren't that confident in their grappling would be more confident to grapple  with Pereira than to strike with him right now what was Adesanya's dec

ision making in that  fight like did he feel like he was going to be able to out-point Pereira all the way through  did he feel like he was going to have to mix in wrestling or or grappling at some point I  don't know but I feel very confident that Pereira is going to be the one initiating that  the grappling exchanges this time around the the only downside to that of course is if he has  to work hard for him if Izzy's forcing him to work hard for those takedowns then Pereira's  spending gas tha

t he could be putting into power punches but with the size of the guy I  feel like if he gets into top position he's gonna be he's gonna be so difficult for Izzy  to move around and to get back to his feet what haven't I said I mean well let's have a  quick look at the stats did I go I did the top stats didn't I Jamie? yeah so if we look at the  if we look at the striking and grappling stats I mean like a higher striking output from Pereira  but based on less fights you know based on based on le

ss fights and less high-level opposition  like you look at Adesanya so we've got Pereira at 5.23 and you've got Addison you're at 3.93 but  then you've got to remember Adesanya has had those long fights with uh obviously Adesanya with um  Romero and do you know what I mean Gastelum was an absolute battle back and forth where of course  your striking output is going to drop off as well as your striking accuracy is going to drop off  although Izzy's striking defense is holding up here compared to

Pereira's 53 to 58 percent now  when it comes to the takedowns this is where it kind of switches and and Adesanya's not got great  takedown accuracy at 14% good takedown offense at 77% though but then of course Pereira's takedown  accuracies it looks a lot better than it is at 100% but I do think that's based on one single  takedown which was 100% successful and was a relatively easy takedown as well I mean you know  DC was kind of making fun of them a little bit but I thought he did a good job

of level-changing  and turning the corner it's not easy for a 6'4" kickboxer to do those kind of things and when he  did it to Adesanya with relative ease I thought to myself well it's a shame it's at the end of the  round because I feel like now he's in top position he can do some real damage and if I'm Glover  Teixeira in the corner watching that I'm thinking to myself ah if we'd have just done that 60  seconds earlier we might have been able to really accumulate some damage at the end of that

round  it might have been enough to sway that round in his direction Like I mean look look how even they  were in that like what was that 20 strikes to 17 significant for Adesanya but 0 of 2 for takedowns  for Adesanya compared to 1 of 1 for for Pereira like you know an extra 30 seconds on the ground  a bit of ground and pound and you know Pereira's looking at stealing rounds off Adesanya with  grappling I think it would be the smart thing to do this time around and I think Adesanya  needs to s

pend more time out in the open he needs to move more laterally and not get settled  too much up against the fence because those left hooks eventually are going to close you down you  know what we talked about in the last war room is Izzy's ability in those kickboxing matches to  lean over that top rope right we saw it a few times him leaning out the way of shots but in the  first round of their MMA fight he leaned back and he was hitting the fence and then those punches  are just whistling past

his whiskers they were a lot closer than they would have been in a boxing  ring and that's an advantage that Pereira's got squeeze Adesanya up against the fence put him  in that choke point where he's gonna have to either go left or right or level change and then  you can start thinking your options left hooks right hooks knees up the center potential level  changes I expect Pereira to move up a weight class at some point now the question is can Izzy  push him so that weight cut becomes problema

tic for him in the championship rounds I feel like  Izzy would have to work hard and put himself In harm's way in order to get Pereira tired  but if he does it with wrestling if he does it with grappling he doesn't have to be the best  wrestler in the world he just has to be persistent with it and I don't doubt his conditioning so  I think that will be a good way of utilizing it oh it's a good fight this is it really is I mean  the the fact that we've got Pereira stepped into mixed martial arts

and within 8 fights he's the  world champion it just shows you how up for grabs everything is and I feel like Pereira is at the  very beginning of his mixed martial arts career as a middleweight and I don't think he's going  to stay middleweight for very long and I feel like he's got a very good chance of moving up to  light heavyweight and doing well there as well I do feel like his performances at middleweight  are finite based on the size of the guy and how much he seems to be cutting weight

whereas Izzy  he's definitely a middleweight and and you know with the skills that he's got if he gets the  belt back from Pereira he's gonna go on another long title defense again and it won't surprise me  if we see Pereira gulp to light heavyweight and then Izzy maybe follow him up to try and take  that belt off him but I'm just speculating now I think we've got- what we've got is two of the  highest level strikers in mixed martial arts that come from very different ends of the striking  spect

rum you've got someone who's technically fantastic but needs to maintain that fantastic  level of striking for 25 minutes and you've got someone who's not quite as polished but is  able to inflict serious power on his opponents with one shot with not even perfect technique  sometimes I don't want to be getting too critical but uh his techniques not perfect by any means but  because he has that power he can get away with it oh what a fight this is going to  be I'll be looking forward to it and I'

m sure you'll be as well and we'll do a midweek live chat or something I need to get back on that once  UFC London's out the way it's been a chaotic few weeks but we're almost there as you can tell  we're recording this a couple of weeks early but I want to get up on the channel because I want  the conversation going on in the comments I want to see what you guys think do you think Adesanya  can do it do you think Adesanya's going to grapple more who do you think is going to shoot the  first tak

e down it was uh Adesanya in their first fight or in their first MMA fight but  the first one to score a takedown was Pereira I think we're going to see some Pereira ground  and pound in this fight I can just I can just feel it and I think Adesanya might uh I think  Adesanya might show some new ground skills of his own as well so we could we could get a  grappling match between two strikers as we usually get a striking match between two  grapplers I'm not sure how that happens usually strikers l

ike to strike  and grapplers like to strike so we'll see what happens but I think we're  gonna see some more grappling in this fight alright enjoy and I'll see you next time Thank you for watching :)