Israel Adesanya thinks his upcoming title defense will be special.

The UFC middleweight champion looks to defend his title for a sixth time Nov. 12 when he takes on Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Although it’s a fresh matchup for Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) in MMA, it’s not in the wider context of combat sports as he fought Pereira (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) twice in kickboxing. Both were losses. He lost a decision in 2016 and by knockout in 2017.

“Stylebender” thinks this fight is more important than any of his previous.

“I was watching Claressa Shields and Floyd Mayweather talk on FaceTime when he fought Pacquiao. He said got up from the seat for every round. He always just thought like, ‘Forget every other fight. If there’s ever a fight I have to win, it’s this one. It’s this one,’” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “I feel that, felt that. That’s me right now. If there’s ever a fight, I have to win, it’s this one. That’s why everything is different this camp. There’s no excuses. If there’s ever a fight I have to win, it’s this one.”

Adesanya most recently competed in July, when he defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision. He’s undefeated at middleweight. His only career loss came at 205 pounds when he attempted to become a two-division UFC champion by challenging then-light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 back in March 2021. Adesanya lost that fight by unanimous decision.

Pereira has seven professional MMA fights under his belt with three of those being under the UFC banner. He most recently fought in July at UFC 276 when he stopped Sean Strickland by KO in the first round.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.