Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was gearing up for a big rematch, who in his sixth defense ran into former conqueror Alex Pereira, who beat him in two kickboxing matches five years ago. In the second case, it was even a ruthless KO, which Adesanya often recalled before this fight. The Nigerian himself knew very well that the opponent’s qualities would be mainly in his attitude, but surprisingly he kept the same tactic.
The positional battle thus accompanied almost the entire match. Both fighters traded combinations, but there was no significant threat to either side. In addition, Adesanya managed to pass clinches to the net quite easily, but the takedowns for which the opponent knew how to prepare well did not work for him, and yet in the third round he did not defend one and exposed himself to the most difficult moments of the duel. Even four minutes of patient work was not enough for Adesanya to find strangle holes, so the fight continued on its feet again.
With no sign of the match drawing to a close, the title battle moved on to the championship rounds, where the picture was much the same. At first glance it seemed that the Nigerian had more strength, as he dismantled his rival with successive strikes to the head and lower abdomen. So Pereira knew before the last round that he had to win before the limit, otherwise he would leave the duel as a loser. And the path to the throne was significantly improved after the opponent’s slip, which the Brazilian swordsman was able to take advantage of and moved from passivity to offensive pressure.
| UFC 281 | main tab, achievements |
|---|---|
| Alex Pereira – Israel Adesanya | Winner: Pereira (Round 5 – TKO) |
| Carla Esparzaova – Weili Zhang | Winner: Zhang (Round 2 – Submission) |
| Dustin Poirier-Michael Chandler | Winner: Poirier (3rd round – submission) |
| Chris Gutiérrez – Frankie Edgar | Winner: Gutierrez (Round 1 – KO) |
| Claudio Puelles – Dan Hooker | Winner: Hooker (Round 2 – TKO) |
The retreating Adesanya got into difficult moments, moreover, a series of uncompromising shots flew through the defense into the net, which put the Nigerian champion in a terribly difficult situation. Pereira continued his fierce fire, which after a few seconds forced the referee to jump between the two fighters to signal the end of the match, and immense joy erupted from the Brazilian’s side. Adesanya experienced defeat before the limit for the first time in his career, while Pereira, on the other hand, succeeded in his fourth duel among the elite and defeated his undefeated middleweight rival for the third time in his career. Moreover, after three years, the champion of the middle division changes, while Adesanya was three minutes away from victory.
“I feel absolutely great, I’ve been training all my life for this moment. I apologize to everyone for having to talk badly this time, but I had to somehow get inside his head to win today. It was a tough match, but every day I was doing five rounds of sparring in the gym. Whoever said I can’t do it, look at me now,” the new champion was happy after the match.
The role of champion in the tournament was defended by the American Carla Esparza, who herself knew perfectly well that she would again have to perform at the limit of her abilities. In the cage, she fought former queen of the strawweight division, Weili Zhang, who was promoted to the heavy favorite before the match. And this has finally been confirmed to the letter. The Chinese woman showed quality in posture and on the ground, in the second case moreover, at the beginning of the second round, she managed to turn the situation around, she dragged her opponent onto her and with a submission called rear-naked choke she forced her to KO at the end of the match after less than six minutes of fighting.
“Today is like a dream come true. Ever since I lost the belt, I’ve been dreaming of this moment,” said 33-year-old Zhang after her win, who sat on the strawweight division throne for the first time in 2019 However, eventual champion Rose Namajunasová deprived her of the holy grail with an exhibition kick to the head.
Dustin Poirier scored a major victory and, in a thrilling fight against Michael Chandler, finally managed to conjure a rear-naked choke in round three and, thanks to the win, was once again on the winning streak. Moreover, this duel was marked as the best in the entire gala evening.
Jiří Procházka’s former opponent Dominick Reyes is counting on his fourth consecutive defeat. He appeared in the cage after more than a year, but Ryan Spann, underrated before the match, managed to knock him down after 80 seconds. Chris Gutiérrez also claimed the thunderous finish, who after two minutes managed to surprise the legendary Frankie Edgar with a merciless knee to the head. Furthermore, the latter ended his career after the match, saying goodbye to cage wrestling at the age of 41.
