Adesanya Reclaims Title from Pereira with Knock Out At UFC 287

The Nigerian middleweight boxer, Israel Adesanya, reclaimed the title at a vengeance match at UFC 287 at Miami yesterday Sunday 9 April 2023 in a knockout with fierce punch on his Brazilian contestant Alex Pereira. The Nigerian-born New Zealander described his victory over Alex Pereira as a sweet revenge.

Adesanya has been in the shadows of the Brazilian since 2017 when they first met in kick-boxing. Just before the decisive punch, it was looking like it was going to be a replica of November when Pereira had Adesanya boxed into a corner, sending head kicks and body shots.

But one fierce punch from Izzy’s right hand put out Pereira’s lights and handed the belt back to the Nigerian.  Adesanya’s response came out of the blues and caught Pereira unaware, putting him to sleep just like it was for Adesanya during their meeting in kick-boxing.

“This is a sweet sweet victory and you know I have a sweet tooth. The hunter is now the hunted”, Adesanya said during his post fight interview inside the octagon.

UFC 287 main event ended in a mere two rounds as Israel Adesanya Knocked out Alex Pereira cold to reclaim the middleweight title. Despite consuming some hefty blows from Poatan, Izzy turned the tables quickly into his favour.

Both men didn’t wrestle it out and remained loyal to their kickboxing roots. Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira let their hands go and didn’t back off from doing that. That said, Israel Adesanya had his last laugh. Check out Israel Adesanya’s KO video at UFC 287 from various angles.

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 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.