Israel Adesanya Beats Pereira For First Time To Reclaim Middleweight Crown

Israel Adesanya won back his middleweight title in spectacular fashion and got his first win over Alex Pereira.

‘The Last Stylebender’ endured a tough first round at UFC 287 on Saturday as he ate several calf kicks but they didn’t matter as he closed the show with powerful head strikes in round two and took home a $50,000 bonus.

Pereira got caught with a massive overhand as he pushed his long-time rival against the fence before Adesanya followed it up with another big strike that knocked the Brazilian out cold in Miami.

The Nigerian-born New Zealander landed a follow-up ground strike before referee Dan Miragliotta intervened and he officially became a two-time UFC champion.

He then made sure the Pereira family knew about it with his cold celebration and later revealed he’d been waiting a long time to do it.

Adesanya entered the main event with his back against the wall after suffering three defeats in his first three meetings with Pereira.

Last year, he was knocked out in round five of a fight he was winning at UFC 281, which was the middleweight duo’s first meeting in MMA.

Before that, Pereira ended Adesanya’s 12-fight kickboxing win streak with a controversial unanimous decision victory in 2016 that led to a rematch.

A year later, Pereira left no doubt when he landed a lead left hook to put Adesnaya out cold on the canvas and he later required oxygen as he struggled to instantly regain consciousness.