UFC 281: Israel Adesanya defeated by Alex Pereira, loses UFC middleweight title

Israel Adesanya was beaten by Alex Pereira. Photo / Getty

By Christopher Reive in New York

Israel Adesanya’s unbeaten streak in the UFC’s middleweight division has been ended at 12 by the hands of Alex Pereira.

In a bout that had captured the imagination of fight fans around the world, Adesanya suffered a fifth-round TKO loss at UFC 281 in Madison Square Garden on Sunday to relinquish the UFC middleweight championship to his Brazilian counterpart.

It was just the second time in Adesanya’s career that he had suffered a knockout loss – the other being in a kickboxing bout against Pereira in 2017.

It had been a strong performance from Adesanya throughout the contest. What was expected to be a high-level striking bout proved to be just that, however Adesanya mixed in his grappling well to test the relatively inexperienced Pereira in all areas.

It was a tight first round, stolen by Adesanya at the buzzer as he had Pereira badly wobbled but ran out of time to get the finish.

Pereira fought back strong to take the second round, but Adesanya began to take over the contest in the third round when he took the fight to the mat and controlled Pereria for almost the whole round.

After another strong round for Adesanya in the fourth, Pereira’s corner made it clear their fighter needed to knock his Kiwi counterpart out – corner work UFC boss Dana White said was like something out of a movie.

He took the message onboard and came out all guns blazing. It was a right hand that started the final sequence, with Pereira catching Adesanya on the chin and stunning him.

When he noticed he had Adesanya hurt, Pereira unloaded and landed some heavy shots. While Adesanya remained on his feet as was still moving around in an attempt to doge the oncoming barrage, the referee stepped in and waved the bout off.

It was a violent end to a violent card, with 11 of the 14 bouts being finished inside the distance – including those of the three other Kiwis on the card.

Dan Hooker made a triumphant return to the lightweight division, stopping rising contender Claudio Puelles in the second round with a front kick to the stomach. It was a terrific showing for Hooker, who put his spot in the rankings on the line and found himself in a bad position early.

Puelles is known for finding leg lock submissions, and had Hooker in trouble in that area early in the first round. Hooker fought through it, and began to pick Puelles apart on the feet.

In the first fight of the night, Carlos Ulberg continued his rise in the light heavyweight division with a first-round knockout against Nicolae Negumereanu. Ulberg looked at home in the octagon, frustrating his opponent with his striking, before catching him with a jab-hook combo to end the fight for his second first-round knockout in a row.

The Kiwis ended the night with a 2-2 record, with Brad Riddell suffering his second straight first-round submission loss.