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Michael Bisping thinks Israel Adesanya is "pissed off" due to Alex Pereira's massive star power under the UFC banner.
'The Last Stylebender' last fought in September 2023 when he was dethroned from his UFC middleweight title against Sean Strickland. Since then, Adesanya's longtime rival, Pereira, has fought and won three times to become the light heavyweight title and successfully defend his throne twice.
Pereira has become one of the biggest superstars in the UFC over the last year, which Bisping believes could be frustrating for Adesanya. During a video on his YouTube channel, 'The Count' discussed the situation featuring 'Poatan' and 'The Last Stylebender', which was transcribed by MMA Junkie:
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"That's another thing: Don't think that's not pi*sing Izzy off, either. Of course it is. Izzy was the man. Now he's fallen off. Somebody else has got his belt. His former opponent, his former rival, his former nemesis is now who Izzy was, is now the biggest star in the sport. Everyone's loving the guy. That is pissing Izzy off, as well. So as I say, I think he's going to be very, very dangerous."
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Watch Michael Bisping's comments below (3:45):
Michael Bisping believes Israel Adesanya is extra motivated after Dricus du Plessis' comments
Earlier this week, Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis participated in a press conference for their upcoming matchup in the UFC 305 main event. One of the biggest takeaways from the event was Du Plessis accusing Adesanya of losing his motivation to continue fighting due to his success inside and outside the Octagon.
During the aforementioned YouTube video, Michael Bisping had this to say about Adesanya potentially gaining motivation from Du Plessis' comments:
"That's kind of harsh words for Israel Adesanya to hear, and for Israel, that's going to motivate him big time. That's going to piss him off. That's going to grind his gears. That's going to get in his head. That is going to force him to train his ass off, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see one of the most dangerous, nasty versions of Israel Adesanya that we've seen."
On Aug. 17, Israel Adesanya and Dricus du Plessis will meet inside the RAC Arena in Australia for a highly-anticipated middleweight title fight. It'll be intriguing to see if Adesanya can regain UFC gold, or if Du Plessis can make a massive statement in his first title defense.
