In the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 287, Israel Adesanya defeated Alex Pereira to reclaim the UFC middleweight belt.
On Sunday morning, the fight took place at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida.
The Nigerian-born MMA fighter knocked out the Brazilian in the fourth minute of the second round.
The victory is Adesanya’s first over Pereira, who defeated him and took the belt away in November 2022 with a vicious fifth-round knockout.
Before that fight, the Brazilian had defeated him twice at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
However, in their most recent fight, Adesanya improved on his discipline, which had previously cost him against Pereira. Throughout the flurry of kicks and jabs, he maintained a laser-like focus.
#ANDNEW Middleweight champion of the world! 🏆@stylebender gets his belt back at #UFC287!!
[ B2YB @RE_Games ] pic.twitter.com/WzTsvdP7C5
— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023
He kept his hard mask of control through the first round despite the constant infuriation of Pereira’s low kick into his right calf.
In the second round, however, he charged out of his reserved, calculating stance and flew after the Brazilians with strings of attacks.
Although Periera initially countered Adesanya’s moves and pinned him in the corner with a flurry of punches, the Nigerian-born fighter wriggled free with a vicious left hook, followed by a more debilitating right cross-jab that sent the Brazilian to the mat.
Adesanya then finished the job with some ground and pound, forcing the referee to call the match off.
Adesanya’s victory over Pereira is his 24th in mixed martial arts (MMA), and he has only two losses in his career.
