Israel Adesanya says Pereira won't be given the title shot in UFC 276 victory over Strickland, but is keen to pursue a trilogy.

ISRAEL ADESANYA says that he doesn't believe his former foe Alex Pereira will be worthy of a title shot if he defeats Sean Strickland on Saturday.

Pereira, a former Glory double champion, can propel himself into title contention early Sunday morning by defeating the American at UFC 276, Las Vegas.

UFC President Dana White has confirmed that the winner of the main-card bout will be the next to grab the middleweight strap. Adesanya will defend the title in the card’s highlight bout.

But The Last Stylebender feels it would be unfair to give the Brazilian, who knocked him out during his last kickboxing fight in 2017, a title fight after just three appearances in this promotion.

Adesanya answered SunSport when asked if Pereira was worthy of the title. He spoke in his capacity as global brand ambassador for Stake.com and crypto casino.

Jiri Prochazka, the newly-crowned light-heavyweight champion, fought for the title at 205 lbs just three fights into his UFC stint. However, the Czech clubber had done more than his share outside of mixed martial arts' top promotion.

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Adesanya stated: "Someone like Jiri. Jiri has fought MMA around the world and fought extensively prior to jumping into the UFC.

"So he has a lot of experience in MMA. Alex is a skilled kickboxer, which makes it a completely different sport.

"But Jiri can fight in the UFC for a title, so let Alex fight for it if he wins.

"We'll wait to see if he wins first. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves.

Adesanya is excited by the prospect of defending her winter title against Pereira vs Strickland's winner. Adesanya has just come off back-toback rematches to Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori.

He stated, "It definitely gets my up. I like fresh blood, new blood.

"Even Pereira is still new to fighting me because he hasn’t seen me in my element, which is real, unhinged striking MMA.

"No pillows for hands. Straight, straight striking. We also have the element to grapple, which he will be amazed about.

"Sean Strickland is another guy that I think would be a good player of the game. He would make a great dance partner for fighting against.

"And I love talking s** t against a man who can talk**t back."

Before Adesanya can consider facing Pereira and Strickland, he first needs to get past Jared Cannonier who has won four of his six previous fights via TKO.

He's looking forward to a sweet, short night at work.

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Israel Adesanya serves as an ambassador for Stake.com. It is one of the fastest-growing and most popular cryptocurrency gambling operators in the world.