It took four bouts, but Israel Adesanya finally got the better of Alex Pereira in their middleweight matchup in the main event Saturday at UFC 287 in Miami.
The victory came via a knockout at 4:21 of the second round. Adesanya (24-2) regained the championship he lost to Pereira (7-2) five months ago at UFC 281. Pereira also won two earlier kickboxing fights between the two.
Pereira, who took his first defeat since his debut in mixed martial arts in 2015, was dominating late in the round - he finished the match with 49 significant strikes to 41 for Adesanya - but Adesanya came up with a pair of right-hand punches. The first slowed Pereira and the second was the knockout blow.
In a welterweight co-main event, Gilbert Burns ran his record to 22-5 with a win by unanimous decision over Jorge Masvidal. In a battle of bantamweights, Rob Font (20-6) won with a knockout of Adrian Yanez (16-4) at 2:57 of the first round.
STYLEBENDER GOT HIS BELT BACK 🏆@Stylebender defeats Alex Pereira by KO to regain the middleweight title!
— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023
[ #UFC287 | B2YB @SweetSweat ] pic.twitter.com/6ohVs1Mmjr
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