UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya had to change his approach in order to defeat Alex Pereira.

Having previously gone 0-3 against Pereira (twice in kickboxing, once in MMA), Adesanya finally conquered his boogeyman with an emphatic second-round knockout win over Pereira in the UFC 287 headliner earlier this month.

It was also Adesanya's first knockout win since 2020 and the key to the finish that led to him becoming a two-time middleweight king was a more aggressive approach according to his head coach Eugene Bareman.

Especially against a high-level kickboxer in Pereira.

“Basically we needed Israel to be more aggressive,” Bareman told Combat TV (via MMA Junkie). “We needed him to lead more. We needed him to be better in the mid-range, where he used to be a master of, but he hasn’t needed to be a master of because he can just beat guys on the outside where they can’t touch him.

“You can’t do that against a high-level kickboxer anymore. This is high level. You’re fighting a guy that’s done standup his whole life. We had to bring back old things and bring them back onto the table and unlock them, and that’s what he did. He did a fantastic job.”

Israel Adesanya received plenty of criticism for his recent fights prior to Pereira for not leading or being aggressive enough, so it will be interesting to see what his game plan is moving forward.

Although many expected a MMA trilogy between Adesanya and Pereira next, the latter has now moved up to the light heavyweight division.

With “The Last Stylebender” holding wins — sometimes multiple — over the entire top five of the middleweight division, it remains to be seen who his next opponent will be.

Perhaps the circumstances favor Dricus Du Plessis?