Israel Adesanya shares excitement for UFC 313 matchups, rates the main card headlined by former rival Alex Pereira: "This is top heavy"

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is excited for UFC 313, headlined by his former rival Alex Pereira, but he did state that the most thrilling fights are only at the top of the fight card. The card will be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev, with the co-main event being a lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev.

Also on the card is a lightweight matchup between Ignacio Bahamondes and Jalin Turner, which serves as the featured bout of the main card.

Breaking down UFC 313 in a recent video uploaded to his FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya spoke highly of the PPV main card and ranked the entire card an "8.5."

He said:

"This is top-heavy. This card, I didn't even give it a number. I'll give it, like, an 8.5. It's top-heavy. This main card itself, f**k that's a 10 The main card itself, that's a 10. But the whole card? 8.5," Adesanya said.

A women's strawweight matchup between Amanda Lemos and Iasmin Lucindo, and another stellar lightweight bout between King Green and Mauricio Ruffy are the first two fights on the main card.

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (4:59):

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Israel Adesanya compares Alex Pereira with Yoel Romero

During his middleweight title reign, Israel Adesanya fought almost all the top contenders in the 185-pound division. Though his two-fight rivalry with Alex Pereira in the division was exciting, his bout against Yoel Romero received widespread criticism for a lack of activity from both men.

Recently, Adesanya revealed a striking similarity between Pereira and Romero. In a breakdown video alongside former rival Robert Whittaker prior to UFC 311, 'The Last Stylebender' said:

"You [Whittaker] fought Romero. There's certain people, cuz I fought Romero as well, you feel them. Like, Romero, when I fought him, you know how you say, like, his body is like, yeah, I felt that. Pereira, he's another specimen like that. Like, these, I don't want to say they're not human, but, like, they feel.. How do you describe? like a henchman?"

Robert Whittaker had a two-fight rivalry with Yoel Romero. Though 'The Reaper' won both fights, many still believe he lost the rematch and that Romero deserved the nod on the scorecard.

Whittaker's first fight against Romero was for the interim middleweight title at UFC 213, and he won via unanimous decision, with the bout taking Fight of the Night honors. After the UFC promoted him to undisputed champion, Whittaker rematched Romero at UFC 225 and in yet another Fight of the Night, won via split decision.

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (15:05):