In March of 2017, Israel Adesanya stepped into the kickboxing ring for the last time. The opponent was Alex Pereira, and Adesanya spent much of the first two rounds picking him apart. He was too fast, too fluid, too accurate—until he wasn’t. 42 seconds into round three, Adesanya left an opening. A small one. Countering inside of Pereira’s looping right with a straight left, he pulled back, and promptly received 185 pounds of Brazilian left hook on the point of the chin.
It was the first and only time Adesanya has ever been knocked out, and it may have had something to do with Adesanya’s renewed efforts to pursue his MMA career, a process which led him here, to the UFC middleweight title, and a fight with one of the most dangerous and durable fighters on the planet—a man with a penchant for sudden, third-round knockouts.