UFC women’s strawweight Zhang Weili lifts heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou
Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight title against Alex Pereira in the UFC 281 main event at Madison Square Garden tonight, as the champion looks to avenge two kickboxing defeats to his challenger.
Adesanya is unbeaten at middleweight in mixed martial arts, his sole professional loss having come while challenging for light heavyweight gold last year. But the Nigerian-born New Zealander’s kickboxing career involved a few losses, with Brazilian Pereira having outpointed Adesanya in 2016 and knocked out the “Last Stylebender” in 2017. Pereira, 35, is 6-1 in MMA, having won five of those bouts via knockout while being fast-tracked to a title shot in New York City tonight.
In the co-main event, Carla Esparza begins her second reign as women’s strawweight champion with a title defence against Zhang Weili, who held the belt between 2019 and 2021. In her last outing, the Chinese fighter knocked out icon Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a spinning back elbow, while Esparza outpointed Zhang’s recent rival Rose Namajunas to claim the gold. In the night’s other featured bout, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler meet in a huge lightweight clash. Follow live round-by-round updates from the UFC 281 main card and prelims, below.
UFC 281 LIVE
We’re still coming to terms with what we just saw! Wild.
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:09
UFC 281 LIVE
Unthinkable? Indy Sport predicted a third-round TKO win for Pereira!
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:05
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:02
UFC 281 LIVE
Pereira apologises for trash-talking ahead of the fight.
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:02
UFC 281 LIVE
Alex Pereira def. Israel Adesanya via fifth-round TKO (punches, 2:01).
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:01
UFC 281 LIVE
Adesanya fought a near-perfect fight. He had Pereira out on his feet at the end of Round 1, but the Brazilian returned the favour in Round 5 to snatch it.
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 06:00
UFC 281 LIVE
Adesanya kicks to the body. Forward comes Pereira. Short hooks connect for Adesanya.
Pereira checks a leg kick and Adesanya rolls back onto the mat then back up! How badly hurt is the champion??
He seems to be moving okay… He rolls with a couple of right hands, but Pereira starts to connect with left hooks and uppercuts, and THE FIGHT IS STOPPED AGAINST THE FENCE!
PEREIRA WITH THE TKO ON THE FEET! AND NEW!
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 05:57
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 05:55
UFC 281 LIVE
“You need to knock him out,” is the message from Pereira’s corner.
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 05:54
UFC 281 LIVE
Twice Adesanya feints for takedowns. He then grabs Pereira with a body lock and drives him to the cage wall.
Pereira throws a number of punches to the body. Adesanya lets go of Pereira then wings a right hook at the challenger’s head.
Pereira narrowly misses with a heavy punch, and Adesanya clinches again. He just misses with an elbow off the break.
Another round in the bank for Adesanya, who narrowly evades a right hook on the buzzer.
Alex Pattle13 November 2022 05:54
Kaynak: briturkish.com
