By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Only one man has managed to knock Israel Adesanya out during his professional MMA career.
That man, Alex Pereira, continued his undefeated streak on Adesanya and did it on MMA’s biggest stage during the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 281 last November 13, 2022.
With the win, Pereira is now the UFC’s newest middleweight king and dealt Adesanya his second loss in the league.
Since getting hold of that prestigious UFC middleweight championship belt last October 2019, Adesanya became the division’s undisputed king after defending his spot five times until a familiar foe was tasked to halt his greatness.
Pereira became the only man who defeated Adesanya in kickboxing twice, with one win coming from a vicious knockout and the other via a controversial decision.
Despite being an underdog against the fully retooled Adesanya, Pereira stuck to his game plan and was aggressive from the get-go.
The challenger targeted Adesanya’s legs with heavy kicks but the slick ‘Stylebender’ turned things around and poured in the attack.
With only four seconds left in the first round, Adesanya was close to knocking Pereira down after landing a right hook but the challenger was saved by the bell after wobbling.
It was a classic Adesanya show in the next three rounds as the defending champion bullied Pereira with his well-calculated hits.
Adesanya hurt Pereira again in the third round and was bound for another successful title defense until the fifth and final round came.
With Adesanya leading by a wide margin in the scorecards, Pereira desperately turned into attack mode and paid off dividends after scoring several left and right straights.
Pereira’s biggest UFC moment came in the 3:14 mark of the fifth round after landing a clean right jab-right uppercut combination that tagged Adesanya.
After the 1-2 combination, Pereira followed it up with a left hook to the jaw and another vicious right uppercut that hurt Adesanya.
Pereira then saw Adesanya wobbling in pain and sent a final flurry of punches that forced the match referee to stop the fight and reward the challenger with the technical knockout victory.
It was a frustrating night for Adesanya after controlling the whole fight until Pereira got him with his signature solid punches.
As of now, Dana White and the UFC are yet to answer questions if the fight calls for an immediate rematch or if will Pereira defend his belt against the no.2 contender.
