Alex Pereira made weight only five minutes before the deadline, making the title bout official.
Early in today’s official weigh-in, Adesanya stepped onto the scales at 185 pounds.
The wait for Pereira was on.
Pereira struggled to drop down to 185lbs (83.9 kg).
He posted a picture of himself weighing in on social media, revealing himself to be more than three stone above the middleweight limit at 105.6kg, or just under 233lb a while back.
Although this is just his seventh bout in MMA, he has considerable confidence considering he defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing.
Alex Pereira once again showcased his giant stature posing for an after training picture alongside former Light Heavyweight title contender Dominick Reyes.
For those unaware – Reyes actually competes in a weight class 20 lbs over Middleweight – which is where Pereira competes (185lbs).
Pereira is a physical specimen having recovered weight miraculously after facing Sean Strickland at UFC 276.
Pereira managed to recover from 185lbs on the scale to 219 lbs – well into heavyweight ie two divisions over just in the past two days.
Pereira is pretty big in stature. Here’s him next to teammate – former light heavyweight UFC champion Glover Teixeira.
He also shared another picture showcasing the change his stature had undergone in the years that have passed since he last faced Adesanya.
Adesanya was also taking the camp seriously. For the first time since his Costa camp, Adesanya’s gynecomastia was obvious – possibly due to the weight cut.
Adesanya’s coach dismissed the chances of this being a grappling match saying:
“I just think that is the benefit of these elite, elite strikers coming into MMA, is that they can concentrate the effort on takedown defense. So I don’t think Israel’s going to have an easy time taking Pereira down, nor do I think if Pereira decides to switch the game plan – which would be smart from a standup battle to a takedown – nor do I think Pereira is going to have a very easy time getting Israel down. So the way I see it is, I think this will probably just be a standup battle.”- Bareman told Submission Radio.
“when Israel got into UFC, he was so good at standup. He could divert a lot of his time into his wall defense and wrestling defense because he already was very, very good at standup. Well, Alex essentially has the same issue. It’s not really an issue – it’s a positive thing, right? Alex is so far ahead of everybody else in this field at standup, he can concentrate all his efforts on things like takedown defense and wall defense and all of that.”