Israel Adesanya not only overcame his demons, he also silenced them.
Alex Pereira had beaten Adesanya three times, twice in kickboxing and once by knockout. However, on Saturday night at Kaseya Center in Miami, Adesanya avenged those losses and put an end to the lingering pressure.
At 4 minutes and 21 seconds into the second round of the UFC 287 main event, Adesanya knocked out Pereira with a series of devastating right hands, regaining the UFC middleweight championship. With this triumph, Adesanya became the first two-time middleweight champion in UFC history and only the fourth out of 15 fighters to regain their titles in an immediate rematch.
During his post-fight interview, Adesanya expressed his joy and hoped everyone could experience such happiness at least once in their lives. He also added, “But you never feel this level of happiness if you don’t go for something.”
Pereira was doing well at the beginning of the fight, landing several combinations on Adesanya against the cage. Adesanya later revealed that he was pretending to be hurt. When Pereira least expected it, Adesanya counter-attacked with a powerful right hand that hurt Pereira, followed by another right and a left hook that sent Pereira to the mat.
As Pereira lay unconscious on the canvas, Adesanya stood over him and mimicked his taunting bow and arrow gesture, which he had used during his entrance. “The hunter became the hunted,” Adesanya said.
Pereira had beaten Adesanya via fifth-round TKO to win the title at UFC 281 last November at Madison Square Garden. Pereira had also won twice against Adesanya in kickboxing, including a knockout victory in 2017. Pereira is the only fighter to have knocked out Adesanya.
Before losing to Pereira last year, Adesanya (24-2) had defended his middleweight title five times. Adesanya, a Nigerian-born resident of New Zealand, had never lost at 185 pounds before the Pereira fight, with his only MMA defeat prior to that coming in a UFC light heavyweight title fight in 2021 against Jan Blachowicz. Adesanya, 33, still holds the second most title fight wins in UFC middleweight history (8).
Pereira (7-2), a former Glory Kickboxing middleweight and light heavyweight champion, came into the fight on a seven-fight winning streak, with his only prior loss coming in his MMA debut in 2015. The Brazilian fighter, 35, trains in Connecticut with former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira.
UFC president Dana White praised Adesanya’s mental toughness, saying, “He’s special. He’s different.” White also predicted that Pereira would move up to the light heavyweight division due to the amount of weight he has to cut to make the 185-pound limit as a middleweight.
Despite being portrayed as the antagonist in Pereira’s story, Adesanya said, “Alex is a great champion, he lost the belt tonight, but he will always be a champion. In his story, I’m the bad guy. But tonight, it’s my story. History.”
