By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Alex Pereira has sent shockwaves through the Middleweight Division. He defeated Israel Adesanya in the fifth round of their fight in the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Pereira signed with the UFC in September 2021. The 35-year-old Brazilian is now the UFC Middleweight Champion fourteen months later.
It looked like Adesanya was going to get another win. However, after being down on the scorecards, Pereira hit Adesanya with a flurry of punches that caused the stoppage in the fight.
The fight was stopped at 2:01 in the fifth round.
“What’s up Brazil,” Pereira said after his huge win. “I told you I was taking this belt back to Brazil. I am so happy. Thank you so much for supporting me and for all the positive energy that was sent my way. Thank you so much.”
He is just the third UFC Middleweight champion from Brazil. And the first in nearly 20 years.
Anderson Silva was the last to achieve this feat on October 14th, 2006. Murilo Bustamante was the first UFC Middleweight champion from Brazil when he won the belt on January 11th, 2002.
Pereira has improved to 7-1 with the win. He has won his last two bouts by knockout.
He has knocked out his opponent six times. Pereira has won seven straight fights after being defeated by Quemuel Ottoni by submission (rear-naked choke) in October 2015.
Adesanya has fallen to 23-2 in his career. He has lost two of his last five fights.
However, this was his first loss in the Middleweight Division. His first loss was to Jan Błachowicz for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
“The Last Stylebender” was previously 1-0 at Madison Square Garden. He defeated Derrick Brunson by TKO (knees and punches) at UFC 230 on November 3rd, 2018.
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