Volkanovski predicts early night for Adesanya over Pereira, Jones disagrees

Alexander Volkanovski thinks his teammate, Israel Adesanya, will avenge his loss to Alex Pereira in a big way, reports mmajunkie.usatoday.com. But Jon Jones disagrees.

Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will look to reclaim the middleweight title from Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) when the pair run things back in the UFC 287 headliner on April 8 in Miami.

Pereira was able to rally late to knock Adesanya out in round five of their title fight at UFC 281, but Volkanovski sees his City Kickboxing training partner getting the finish this time.

“I think it finishes early,” Volkanovski told Sky Sports New Zealand. “I think Izzy actually finishes him. I’m thinking third round – I don’t know why I’m saying third round, but that’s been my pick, my round. I honestly think he’s gonna finish, so I’m looking forward to that. Obviously, he’s got something to prove. With the right game plan and things like that, I think it’s gonna go well for him, very well for him, and hopefully a nice highlight reel for Izzy. He’s got many of those and one more for the highlight reel.”

However, Jon Jones disagrees with Volkanovski’s prediction of the possible outcome of the fight. The win in November was Pereira’s third win over Adesanya at UFC 281. Prior to that, ‘Poatan’ beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing, including once by knockout.

Although Pereira had to rally in two of those wins before he stopped Adesanya, Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) thinks he’ll come out on top again when he rematches ‘The Stylebender’ in the UFC 287 main event in Miami.

“I believe Pereira is going to win again,” Jones told reporters at the UFC 285 media day. “There’s some athletes that just have other athletes’ number. I see he works hard and I’m rooting for him. I believe he’s going to do it again.”

Jones’ pick may not come as a surprise, given he and Adesanya haven’t seen eye-to-eye over the years and have traded barbs on numerous occasions, and expressed interest in a superfight.

Jones, the former light heavyweight king, returned after a layoff of more than three years in the UFC 285 headliner against Ciryl Gane, and defeated the Frenchman to win the vacant heavyweight belt at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.