UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira live results
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira live results.
A stacked UFC card arrives at New York’s Madison Square Garden tonight, as the Big Apple plays host to two title fights, including one that features plenty of bad blood.
In the main event, Israel Adesanya defends the UFC middleweight championship against Alex Pereira.
The two have a long history going back to their days in kickboxing. Pereira won both contests in April 2016 and March 2017, the latter of which saw Adesanya stretchered out after getting knocked into unconsciousness.
This will be Adesanya’s sixth attempt at defending the UFC middleweight title after becoming undisputed champion at UFC 243.
Since winning the title from Robert Whittaker, Adesanya has made successful defenses against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Whittaker and Jared Cannonier. Adesanya’s sole MMA loss came when he challenged then-UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
Pereira, who won middleweight and light heavyweight gold with GLORY Kickboxing, had three MMA fights in Jungle Fight between 2015 and 2016, as well as a sole fight in LFA in 2020, before joining the UFC.
Pereira’s UFC tenure thus far has seen him finish Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268, score a decision over Bruno Silva in March and knock out Sean Strickland at UFC 276.
The co-main event will see the UFC women’s strawweight title on the line, as Carla Esparza defends against former champion Weili Zhang.
Esparza, who became the inaugural champion in 2014, comes into this bout on a six-fight win streak. Esparza’s second reign with the title began in May at UFC 274, where she scored a split decision win over Rose Namajunas in what went down as one of the most boring title fights in UFC history.
Zhang became strawweight champion with a first-round finish of Jessica Andrade in August 2019. After retaining against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in one of MMA’s greatest fights, Zhang lost the title to Namajunas at UFC 261 and lost their UFC 268 rematch. Zhang comes into this fight off a knockout of Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275.
The card will also feature a highly-anticipated lightweight bout between former interim champion Dustin Poirier and former Bellator champion Michael Chandler. It will also feature Frankie Edgar in his retirement fight, as he takes on Chris Gutierrez.
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira live results [UPDATED LIVE]
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
- Alex Pereira defeated Israel Adesanya via TKO, Round 5 – 2:01 for the UFC middleweight championship
- Weili Zhang defeated Carla Esparza via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2 – 1:05 to become the UFC women’s strawweight championship (AGAIN)
- Dustin Poirier defeated Michael Chandler via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 3 – 2:00
- Chris Gutierrez defeated Frankie Edgar via KO, Round 1 – 2:01
- Dan Hooker defeated Claudio Puelles via TKO, Round 2 – 4:06
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira Preliminary Card (ESPNews/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
- Renato Moicano defeated Brad Riddell via submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1 – 3:20
- Ryan Spann defeated Dominick Reyes via KO, Round 1 – 1:20
- Erin Blanchfield defeated Molly McCann via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:37
- Andre Petroski defeated Wellington Turman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira Early Prelim Card (ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass, 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT)
- Matt Frevola defeated Ottman Azaitar via KO, Round 1 – 2:30 (Watch the KO right here)
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz defeated Silvana Gomez Juarez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Michael Trizano defeated Seungwoo Choi via KO, Round 1 – 4:51 (watch the double knock down here)
- Montel Jackson defeated Julio Arce via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-29)
- Carlos Ulberg defeated Nicolae Negumereanu via KO, Round 1 – 3:44 (watch the KO here)