On 12 November, 2022 at UFC 281, Israel Adesanya suffered a devastating first defeat at middleweight to lose his belt to old kickboxing rival Alex Pereira in a classic UFC 281 showdown.
The Brazilian, in only his fourth fight in the organisation, looked on course to lose a decision before he plucked victory from the jaws of defeat and delivered a late TKO.
Madison Square Garden erupted as Marc Goddard stepped in to prevent any more punishment, some felt prematurely.
Adesanya had the upper hand for a large amount of the fight.
However, his dominance was halted in the fifth round, when Pereira landed some huge blows that left Adesanya a little wobbly on his feet.
Though Pereira didn’t knock down Adesanya, the referee stopped the fight and Pereira was declared the winner.
Pereira now has a win in MMA over Adesanya to go with his two triumphs in kickboxing before the pair changed sports.
