Adesanya loses title to Pereira
Alex Pereira has Israel Adesanya’s number in any combat sport – make it 3-0, and now the Brazilian knockout artist also has his rival’s UFC middleweight championship.
Pereira fought back from a slow start and rocked New Zealand superstar Adesanya in the fifth round to score the TKO win and claim the 185-pound championship in the main event of UFC 281 yesterday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The 35-year-old Pereira defeated Adesanya twice – once by knockout – in their old kickboxing days and that got the challenger fast-tracked to a title match after just three UFC fights.
His rapid rise to the title had the Garden crowd going wild as Pereira tagged Adesanya with a vicious right that sent the champion into the cage. Adesanya slumped against the cage and Pereira went for the finishing blows but the referee stopped the bout at 2:01 in the fifth round.
Knocked at times for his methodical style, the 31-year-old Adesanya (23-2) got the MSG crowd on his side once he clobbered Pereira with a pounding right and then a fast left hand to the face that ended the first round and sent the challenger reeling.
Adesanya’s loss snapped his 12-fight win streak at middleweight, only one shy of Anderson Silva’s division record.
In the earlier bouts, Kiwis Dan Hooker and Carlos Ulberg scored wins on the undercard.
Hooker won by a second round TKO against Peruvian Claudio Puelles while Ulberg prevailed against Romanian Nicolae Negumereanu with a round-one knockout.
Fellow New Zealander Brad Riddell was stopped in the first round for the third fight in a row, losing to Renato Moicano.