Israel Adesanya picks Jamahal Hill to beat Alex Pereira with KO win at UFC 300: ‘I don’t think he’s scared’
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has shared his prediction for the UFC 300 main event that sees Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill.
Adesanya is very familiar with Pereira, having fought him twice in kickboxing and twice in MMA. ‘The Last Stylebender’ is the last person to beat Pereira, as he knocked him out to win back the middleweight title, which forced the Brazilian up to the light heavyweight division.
Pereira is now 2-0 at light heavyweight and is coming off a knockout win over Jiri Prochazka to win the light heavyweight title. He will look to defend the belt for the first time at UFC 300 against Jamahal Hill, but Adesanya feels like Hill will KO the Brazilian.
“Jamahal I don’t think is scared,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel (H/T BJPENN). “Scary knockout power, as well. Alex can get knocked out…avoiding the leg kicks is the tricky bit, and I know Jamahal has some remedies for that… Five rounds, going to be a slow start…Jamahal’s going to try to get his fist to Alex’s head, just like he did with Johnny Walker. I’m gonna go Jamahal by knockout, first two and a half [rounds].”
Hill is currently the betting underdog, but Adesanya likes the American to reclaim his light heavyweight title on Saturday at UFC 300.
Jamahal Hill asked Israel Adesanya for advice
Heading into Jamahal Hill’s UFC 300 fight against Alex Pereira, he revealed he went to Israel Adesanya for advice.
Adesanya is very familiar with Pereira and Hill went on FaceTime with him to get some advice.
“[Israel Adesanya was] just giving me some advice and insights on what he’s seen and his experience of being in there fighting Alex,” Hill revealed during the UFC Vegas 90 post-fight show (h/t MMAFighting). “Just basically essentially those things and how to approach and things like that.”
Hill hasn’t fought sine January of 2022 when he beat Glover Teixeira by decision to win the vacant title. However, he tore his Achilles and had to vacate his belt due to the injury.
