Israel Adesanya claims Alex Pereira is the most overhyped fighter in the UFC: “I’ll make him look easy”

Israel Adesanya believes Alex Pereira is overhyped and he hopes he can expose that.

When Pereira signed with the UFC it was highly anticipated due to the fact he is the former GLORY kickboxing champ and has two wins over Adesanya including one by KO. In his debut, he scored a highlight-reel KO win over Andreas Michailidis and then beat Bruno Silva by decision in his sophmore appearance. Yet, for Adesanya, he believes those were handpicked opponents and because of that, he thinks Pereira is the most overhyped fighter in the UFC.

“I’m gonna go with Alex Pereira, because I’ll make him look easy,” Adesanya said to Kayo Sports about who’s the most overhyped fighter in the UFC. “Yeah, right now just enjoy the setup fights, enjoy the setup victories, you know? Yeah, that’s overhyped.”

Image via @stylebender on Instagram (photographer not listed)

Although Israel Adesanya thinks Alex Pereira is the most overhyped fighter, the Brazilian has the toughest test of his career on Saturday. Pereira is set to face Sean Strickland at UFC 276 where the winner could get a title shot. If Pereira wins, then perhaps he isn’t overhyped due to the fact he would’ve beaten a top-five ranked middleweight in just his third UFC fight.

If Pereira does beat Strickland and if Adesanya defeats Jared Cannonier at UFC 276, the two would meet, and ‘The Last Stylebender’ would get the chance to prove Pereira is easy and overhyped. Yet, before that happens, both men will need to win their fight on Saturday.

Adesanya (22-1) is coming off the decision win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 in February to defend his belt after defeating Marvin Vettori back in June to get back into the win column after the loss to Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. Before the loss, he had beaten Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero to defend his titles after winning the strap by KO over Whittaker.

What do you make of Israel Adesanya saying Alex Pereira is the most overhyped fighter in the UFC?