Israel Adesanya Loses UFC Title To Brazilian Rival, Alex Pereira

Israel Adesanya has lost his UFC title to Brazilian rival, Alex Pereira.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Brazilian Alexsandro Pereira has defeated Nigerian-New Zealander professional mixed martial artist Israel Mobolaji Adesanya at Ultimate Fighting Champions (UFC) 281 in the early hours of Sunday, November 13, 2022.

The champion appeared comfortably ahead on the scorecards before he was stung by a series of punches midway through the fifth and final round and the referee stepped in to stop the contest.

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The loss was a first for Adesanya in the middleweight division in MMA, and just his second in 25 professional MMA bouts.

It was also his third career defeat to Pereira, who won on both occasions when they met in a pair of kickboxing bouts in 2016 and 2017.

“I feel so good, I’ve been training all my life, I worked so hard for this,” an elated Pereira said in his post-fight interview.

While the loss was a blow for Adesanya, his lengthy reign with the belt would potentially give him the option of an immediate rematch.

The Nigerian-New Zealander, who fights out of the world-renowned City Kickboxing gym in Auckland, had been the undisputed UFC middleweight title holder for more than three years.

Meanwhile, Adesanya’s City Kickboxing teammates and fellow New Zealand fighters Dan Hooker and Carlos Ulberg both scored stoppage wins in their fights on the UFC 281 undercard.

Experienced lightweight Hooker broke a two-fight losing streak with a second-round stoppage of Claudio Puelles.

Hooker sent the rising Peruvian atar down with a front kick to the body, forcing the referee to bring an early end to the fight.

Ulberg racked up his third straight win in the light heavyweight division, producing a crisp left hook to knock out Romanian Nicolae Negumereanu.

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The other City Kickboxing fighter in action was Brad Riddell, who suffered a first-round submission loss to dangerous Brazilian Renato Moicano.

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