Israel Adesanya brutally KO’s Alex Pereira, reclaims middleweight title in UFC 287 main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 8, 2023, for UFC 287, going down live from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Headlining the event was a middleweight championship rematch, or quadrilogy, however you look at it, as current champion Alex Pereira (7-1 MMA, 33-7 kickboxing) aims to make the first defense of his newly claimed title opposing former champion Israel Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 75-5 kickboxing).
Co-headlining the event was a welterweight contenders’ bout between a pair of former title challengers where no. 5 ranked Gilbert Burns (21-5) takes on no. 11 ranked Jorge Masvidal (35-16).
Reverting back to our main event of the evening:
As most of us know by now, this was the fourth time Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya squared off; their first two bouts going down in the kickboxing ring, and their third and fourth going down in the UFC octagon.
Their first fight showed Pereira victorious via unanimous decision, a fight many fans of which believed Adesanya won.
Their rematch showed Adesanya pick Pereira apart up until he was KO’d stiff in round three.
Then we have their trilogy that went down at UFC 281; Pereira had just three UFC fights going in, and he was down 3-1 on the cards going into the fifth and final round, up until he stopped Adesanya via TKO midway through the round.
Considering how dominant of a champion Adesanya was, securing six-straight title defenses (including his title unification bout) leading up, we got to see a fourth fight between these two, an immediate rematch for the UFC middleweight title.
Continue reading to see how this middleweight championship main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Israel Adesanya def. Alex Pereira via KO (punches) at 4:21 of round two
Pereira chips away at Adesanya’s legs throughout round one, though it was very much a feeling out process for both.
Round two was much different however, as Pereira gets right to work backing Adesanya up with heavy combinations, many punches of which he’s landing. Adesanya is in real trouble early in the second but gets himself out of harms way and lands some nice counter punches of his own.
It appears Pereira is in control, as he’s hurting Adesanya’s legs with those heavy kicks, and he’s controlling the center, stalking his pray. He goes in for another nasty combination that has Adesanya backed up to the fence, but he doesn’t protect his face and is flattened with back to back right hands.
ISRAEL ADESANYA JUST SLEPT ALEX PEREIRA TO FINALLY BEAT HIM #UFC287 https://t.co/lQwzlLW0LA
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) April 9, 2023
Israel Adesanya just did it, he finally beat Alex Pereira, and he reclaimed the UFC middleweight championship tonight at UFC 287.
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