Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya has defeated Alex Pereira to reclaim the UFC middleweight belt title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 287.
He knocked out the Brazilian in the fourth minute of the second round of the bout which took place at the FTX Arena, Miami, Florida, on Sunday morning, April 9.
Adesanya entered UFC 287 after suffering three defeats in his first three meetings with Pereira.
Just last year, he was knocked out in round five of a fight he was winning at UFC 281.
Before the clash, Pereira ended Adesanya’s 12-fight kickboxing win streak with a controversial unanimous decision victory that led to a rematch.
Pereira was unleashing body hooks and a knee to the ribs, with Adesanya backed against the cage, when the challenger threw a right hook out of nowhere!!
It froze Pereira, so similar to the end of the first round in their last fight, but this time there was no buzzer to save Pereira; the next punch dropped him, and he was out cold after the fist.
Adesanya in post-fight, said: “I told him before, ‘Thank you for all that you’ve done. Thank you for beating me because [by] beating me he made me a better fighter, a better person.’
“In this camp, I didn’t f*** around. If you know me, you know I like a vacation but I didn’t f*** around, I stayed on the grind.
“I’ve been putting myself through it, you can see it on FREESTYLEBENDER on YouTube. I don’t put my highlights on [Instagram], I put in work.
“I get tired so that when I get in here, I don’t get tired.”
This win over Pereira is Adesanya’s 24th in his career in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
After seven years in which they have fought four times, ‘The Last Stylebender’ finally gets his win over Pereira, and in stunning fashion.
(Photo: MMA News)