Israel Adesanya was just minutes away from defending his title against Alex Pereira - with the official scorecards of their UFC 281 fight released.
Middleweight champion Adesanya was looking to make the sixth defence of his title in the main event at Madison Square Garden, but he failed to do after being knocked out in the fifth round by former kickboxing rival Pereira. 'The Last Stylebender' did a good job in the early rounds, mixing up his wrestling and striking to drain the gas tank of knockout-artist Pereira.
'The Last Stylebender' was cruising his way to a unanimous decision win heading into the final round, but with three minutes left to go Pereira caught him with a big flurry of punches to close the show. The three judges at cageside all scored the fight the same way, with Adesanya winning every round apart from the second.
What were your thoughts on Alex Pereira's win against Israel Adesanya? Let us know in the comments section below
Adesanya was on course to match a promotional record set by UFC legend Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in middleweight history (12) but Pereira stopped him from doing so. It's Adesanya's third loss to Pereira having previously been beaten twice by the Brazilian in kickboxing, as the former champion was also brutally knocked out in their 2017 rematch.
“F****ng crazy end. Similar to the last time. Same story. It’s crazy,” Adesanya said after the fight. “He’s durable and he recovers well. Even in the fifth round, I knew he was going to come strong because he was down. Same thing as last time again. It’s another great story for him, but it’s not over. This is still war.”
The Nigerian-born Kiwi admitted his legs were badly hurt from Pereira's kicks, adding: "He got calf kicks early on and invested well. He hit my peroneal nerve. So that’s why my footwork was compromised. Even when I tripped and went backwards, I had to do the rolie polie. I just tripped over, it’s not like me. Kudos to him for investing in those calf kicks, because it cost me."
Pereira only had three UFC fights under his belt going into the fight and many fans felt he was being fast-tracked into a title shot because of his history with Adesanya. 'Poatan' is open to a fourth meeting with Adesanya despite having now beaten him three times.
"A lot of emotions went through my head, so many years of hard work and dedication, now here I am as the champion of the world," Pereira said. "I tried to pace myself but going into the last round my corner kept it real with me and told me I needed to knock him out. Adesanya was taking some pretty heavy hits and the referee is there to keep him safe, so I think the stoppage was correct."
