The UFC 287 is scheduled for April 8th (in 1 week) and the main event will be a rematch between Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesana.
If you didn't watch the previous fight between the two, here is an official link:
https://youtu.be/bN8w32EfDssIsrael Adesanya was the dominant champion of the UFC Middleweight division from 2019 until late 2022 when he lost to Alex Pereira.
Alex was the only fighter to have ever defeated Israel, specifically in the Glory kickboxing event before Adesanya started his career in the UFC.
His victory against Adesanya in 2022 was dramatic: in the last round by TKO, after his main coach Glover Teixeira said that if Alex really wanted to win the belt, it would have to be by knockout.
His nickname, 'Poatan' means 'hands of stone' in Brazilian Tupi Indian language. He came from poverty, lived in a favela and had to leave school at the age of 12 to work in a tire shop where due to peer pressure he started drinking and eventually developed alcoholism.
He only started kick-boxing training when he was 21 years old and that helped him to eventually overcome the addiction. More info about it:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-alex-pereira-details-struggle-alcoholism-says-ashamed-talk-recentlyContrast that to Israel who had a pretty comfortable life: his father is an accountant and the mother is a nurse and their family migrated to New Zeland when he was 10 years old.
To learn more about Alex career and life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDpgLbYNiYI hope that Alex can do it again and beat Israel, but whoever wins, I'm sure it is going to be an excellent fight!
