Highlights! Pereira Stuns ‘Last Stylebender’ With Comeback KO

Alex Pereira once again pulled the rug from underneath Israel Adesanya last night (Sat., Nov. 12, 2022) at UFC 281 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, when the Brazilian contender stopped “Last Stylebender” via fifth-round TKO (punches) to walk away with the undisputed middleweight title.

It was a chess match in the early going, but Adesanya landed a big right hand and some partially-blocked head kicks to pull away. Pereira came back towards the end of the round before the champion landed a massive right hand that stunned “Poaton.” Adesanya landed a follow-up left hook at the buzzer. It was tit-for-tat in the second round as Adesanya utilized some good clinch work to limit the powerful attacks of Pereira, who did land a last-second takedown.

In Round 3, Adesanya landed the first official takedown of his UFC career. Pereira wasn’t able to get back to his feet and it allowed the champion to score valuable top time along with short punches in bunches. Pereira was tiring pretty quickly. The next round saw Adesanya pull ahead again with timely striking and constant pressure. Pereira was barely throwing much of anything in response.

Coming into the fifth round Pereira needed a finish to walk away with the UFC middleweight title. He turned the heat up and started to tag Adesanya. The champion felt the power and began to fold. That’s when Pereira unloaded a vicious combination along the cage to put an end to “Last Stylebender.”

Check out the full fight video highlights below courtesy of UFC/ESPN:

For complete UFC 281 results and coverage click here.