Adesanya brutally KOs Pereira to recapture UFC middleweight title

Israel Adesanya did it. He finally got past his bogeyman.

And he delivered one of the most spectacular wins in recent MMA history in the process.

Adesanya knocked out Alex Pereira at the 4:21 mark of the second round in the UFC 287 main event to regain the middleweight championship Saturday night in Miami.

"I hope every one of you, behind the screens and in this arena, can feel this level of happiness just one time in your life," Adesanya said in his postfight interview.

"You never feel this happiness if you don't go for something in your own life when they knock you down, when they try f-----g with you, when they talk shit about you, and they try to put their foot on your neck," he continued. "If you stay down, you will never, ever get that result."

This was the second time Adesanya and Pereira met in MMA and the fourth in combat sports. Pereira twice beat Adesanya in kickboxing, in 2016 and 2017, and then captured the UFC middleweight title with a stunning, come-from-behind TKO finish at UFC 281 last November.

Adesanya was a dominant champion, having successfully defended the belt five times over the three years, and was granted an immediate rematch. Now, he has his revenge and is the first-ever two-time UFC champion at 185 pounds.

"They say revenge is sweet, and if you know me, I got a sweet tooth," Adesanya said. "You already know. This is f------g sweet."

Late in the second round, Pereira backed up Adesanya against the fence and began teeing off, connecting with a body shot and then a knee up the middle.

But Adesanya fired back and staggered him with a right hand before landing a second right hand and a left hook that sent Pereira crashing to the canvas and knocked him unconscious. Adesanya got in one hammerfist on the ground before referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in. It was one of the wildest MMA sequences in recent memory.

The rematch had been very competitive up until that point. The first round was mostly a feeling-out process, with both Adesanya and Pereira sticking to their roots of kickboxing. Pereira landed hard leg kicks, and Adesanya attacked the body.

Things heated up early in the second round as Pereira tagged Adesanya. They continued to trade strikes, and both had their moments before Adesanya ended the fight.

"Beating me, he made me a better fighter, a better person," Adesanya said of his loss to Pereira last year. "In this camp, I didn't f--k around."

He added: "Alex is a great champion no matter what. He lost the belt tonight, but he will always be a champion. In his story, I'm the antagonist. In his story, I'm the bad guy. But tonight, it's my story. History."

With the victory, Adesanya avenged his sole career loss at middleweight. He's now 13-2 in the UFC and 24-2 overall. His only other defeat before facing Pereira last year was in a 2021 light heavyweight title fight against Jan Blachowicz, and it was via unanimous decision.

Adesanya originally captured the middleweight title in October 2019 with a second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker. He retained the belt five times in fights with Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Whittaker, and Jared Cannonier.

Pereira returned to MMA in 2020 after a lengthy career in kickboxing, during which he was the GLORY Kickboxing middleweight and light heavyweight champion. After one win on the regional scene, Pereira signed with the UFC in late 2021 and won three fights, including a first-round knockout of Sean Strickland in July 2022, to earn the title shot against Adesanya. Pereira is now 4-1 in the promotion and 7-2 as a pro MMA fighter.