Israel Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman is preparing for Adesanya’s 6th title defense. He talked a great deal about Alex Pereira in lead up to UFC 281.
Pereira made his UFC debut back in November of 2021. He is 35 years old and has very limited MMA experience having previously competed just 7 times – 3 out of that in UFC.
Meanwhile Adesanya competed in MMA since February of 2018 and has a total of 24 MMA bouts at age 33.
When Pereira signed with UFC it’s believed that he was promised a fast track to the title which is likely a part of why he’s standing to face Adesanya just over a year later.
Adesanya’s coach Eugine Bareman believes this is ridiculous. The founder of City Kickboxing shared his opinion during his appearance on The MMA Hour.
“There is no way he gets a title shot if there wasn’t history there; it’s ridiculous. it’s just ridiculous that someone would get a title shot [so quickly]. There’s history with Israel, and the story and the UFC, hate it or love it, Dana has to promote fights.” Bareman said.
Despite finding it ridiculous, Bareman acknowledged that the UFC decision to give Pereira a title shot makes sense.
“That’s one thing they do really well. They picked up this history, picked up this would be a great fight that’s going to bring a lot of eyes, and strategically pushed Alex so he could fight for the title. ”
“We’ll have to see on Saturday if he’s being rushed too early, and if they should’ve been more patient.” Bareman said.