Israel Adesanya envisions putting Alex Pereira to sleep in upcoming trilogy fight at UFC 281 – "I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up"

In their upcoming match, Israel Adesanya is clearly looking to accomplish more than just defeat his long-time opponent Alex Pereira. Adesanya will be making his sixth title defense against Glory rival Alex Pereira in the UFC 281 headliner on 12 November.

Even though 'The Last Stylebender' is entering the octagon against the only man to have knocked him out, the Nigerian-born Kiwi doesn't seem fazed. Appearing in a recent interview with TMZ Sports, the middleweight kingpin revealed how he sees his fight against 'Poatan' going.

The 33-year-old champ is planning to put his opponent to "sleep":

"I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up. I want to make sure I'm right in his line of sight so that when he wakes up he's looking at me and then looking at the ref and... I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up... that's how I see this fight going."

Adesanya's wish likely stems from what went down in their second kickboxing fight in 2017 when Pereira knocked him out.

After landing the knockout shot (a left hook), Pereira ran across the ring and put his face close to Adesanya's who was laid out on the canvas.

Here's the video:

Check out what Israel Adesanya had to say about his upcoming title defense in the video below:

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Israel Adesanya will "have his pride at stake" in his upcoming battle against Alex Pereira, according to Michael Bisping

At UFC 281, the middleweight champ is going to fight 'Poatan' for the third time in his career. Prior to this matchup, the two battled one another twice at the Singapore-based kickboxing promotion Glory Championship.

During both matches, Israel Adesanya was on the losing end, once via decision, while the second one was via knockout.

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, former middleweight champ Michael Bisping called the UFC 281 headliner a crucial fight for the 'The Last Stylebender':

"Obviously, there's a bit of pride at stake for Izzy [Adesanya], you know? He's [Pereira] coming back; he's coming to haunt him. He's coming to, you know, almost like the Bogeyman. Is this his Kryptonite? Is this the guy that's going to take away all his [Adesanya] hopes and dreams, his livelihood, he's gonna stop his run as champ and beat him for the third time? So when you put all of that together, it is... it's about beating this man once and for all."

Check out Michael Bisping discuss Israel Adesanya's upcoming encounter with Alex Periera: