Israel Adesanya names one UFC legend he would have preferred to have trained him for Alex Pereira rematch

Israel Adesanya is on a quest to regain the UFC middleweight title this weekend. ‘The Last Stylebender’ is set to face heated rival Alex Pereira in the headline bout of UFC 287, with gold on the line.

Naturally, both Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have been training incredibly hard for this clash.

Notably, Pereira was shown in recent reports training with UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, who held the light-heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007.

With this in mind, a recent YouTube interview for TheMacLife saw Adesanya asked which UFC legend he’d have chosen to train with leading up to this pivotal rematch.

While many fans would’ve assumed his choice would be former middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, ‘The Last Stylebender’ instead threw a curveball.

“Not Anderson Silva, not Anderson Silva...let’s see, UFC legend to train me for this fight...to be honest, ‘DC’ (Daniel Cormier) was the first name to come to mind.”

Adesanya’s choice is an interesting one, purely because the obvious reason for him wanting to train with Daniel Cormier would be because he intends to wrestle with Pereira this weekend.

‘DC’, the former UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion, is one of the most decorated wrestlers in MMA history, having competed at the international level and claimed numerous titles on the mat. There’s no doubt that he could teach ‘The Last Stylebender’ plenty of tricks when it comes to takedowns and grappling.

Based on Adesanya’s previous fight with ‘Poatan’ in the UFC, wrestling and grappling could be an area in which the former titleholder would have an advantage already. He dominated Pereira on the ground in the third round of the fight for a period of time.

Interestingly, fans have already been treated to a video clip posted to YouTube of Adesanya drilling his wrestling skills prior to this weekend.

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Who has Israel Adesanya trained with for his rematch with Alex Pereira?

While Alex Pereira has been training with a pair of UFC legends in the form of Glover Teixeira and Chuck Liddell for his clash with Israel Adesanya this weekend, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has largely kept things the same.

Adesanya has continued his preparations with the Auckland-based City Kickboxing team, training primarily under head coach Eugene Bareman.

Some of his more notable training partners during his current camp have included UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, as well as fellow contenders Kai Kara-France and Carlos Ulberg.

A YouTube series chronicling Adesanya’s preparation for this fight has described it as the "HARDEST training camp of his career".