Alex Pereira will look to become the first middleweight to defeat Israel Adesanya in mixed martial arts (MMA) and walk away with the undisputed 185-pound belt later tonight (Sat., Nov. 12, 2022) at UFC 281 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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MASSIVE MIDDLEWEIGHT MATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Sydney, Australia, for the first time in five years on Sat., Sept. 9, 2023, with a 185-pound world title fight inside Qudos Bank Arena. In the ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) main event, Middleweight roost-ruler, Israel Adesanya, plans to silence No. 5-seeded contender, Sean Strickland. In UFC 293’s hard-hitting Heavyweight co-main event, No-6-ranked fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa, locks horns with towering Russian, Alexander Volkov (No. 8).
Pereira, a former two-division GLORY kickboxing champion, has been down this road before with “Last Stylebender.” The two strikers first met back in 2016 under the GLORY banner with Pereira escaping with a controversial decision win. A rematch came together one year later for what was Adesanya’s last trip to the kickboxing ring. Pereira was losing that match before catching Izzy with a stunning left hook in the third round that sent “Last Stylebender” crashing to the canvas.
That knockout is the only time Adesanya has ever been put away in his combat career and a constant reminder at how dangerous Pereira truly is. It’s also a reminder for Adesanya to be cautious when the two fighters lock horns this weekend at UFC 281. If case you’ve never seen Pereira’s one-punch finish over Adesanya you can check it out above.
As of now, Adesanya is the betting favorite to hand Pereira his first MMA loss since his debut back in 2015 and defend his middleweight title for the sixth-straight time. However, Pereira is going to come for the kill and we’ve seen Adesanya tested before inside of the Octagon. One false move and Pereira may have another viral knockout video to claim his own.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 281 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPNews at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 281: “Adesanya vs. Pereira” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 281 fight card and PPV line up click here.
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