When Alex Pereira came into New York’s Madison Square Garden for the main event of UFC 281, he did so as a bit of a novelty. He was “that kickboxing guy who beat Israel Adesanya twice,” sent here to balance a competitive equation. But this was MMA, and Adesanya was the middleweight champion of the world.
When Pereira departed the Garden a few hours later, he did so as the UFC’s new middleweight champion.
Pereira’s gas tank held up under Adesanya’s clinch-control strategy, as the Brazilian came back in a bout he was losing on the scorecards to notch a TKO stoppage at 2:01 of the fifth and final round.