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Israel Adesanya lost his title against Alex Pereira at UFC 281, but he has now surfaced as a small favorite for a rematch, according to our friends at SportsBetting.ag.
Adesanya went off as a -230 favorite Saturday night (November 12), but fell via TKO to Pereira in Round 5. Pereira cashed as a +195 underdog.
SportsBetting.ag released rematch odds Sunday morning and "The Last Stylebender" is set as a -150 favorite while Pereira comes back as a +130 underdog.
"I said, 'Do I have to knock him out?'" Pereira said through an interpreter. "(Teixeira) Glover said, 'You do have to knock him out.' I said, 'OK, let's do it.'"
Pereira considers Glover, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, a mentor.
Adesanya addressed the loss after the fight.
“What a moment, crazy isn’t it, similar to the last one, it’s crazy, but yeah I was fine, the first thing I said to the ref was ‘I was fine’ because I was still lucid, I was in there, but shit happens… my eyes might have rolled back a little bit but I was lucid."
“My ego would say at least let me go out on my shield, but I don’t think I would’ve gone out, I was still there.”
"It's another great story for him, but it's not over," Adesanya vowed. "This is still war."
As an MMA fighter, this represents only Adesanya's second loss and first by knockout. He has fought 25 times.
Pereira has had seven wins in eight bouts.
Fight Odds
Israel Adesanya -150
Alex Pereira +130
- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com
