Israel AdesanyavsAlex Pereira
UFC 287 · April 8, 2023 · Middleweight
Adesanya KO round 2
Revenge KO. Adesanya solved the Pereira puzzle and reclaimed the MW title.
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Setup
UFC 287 at Kaseya Center in Miami. Alex Pereira entered as the middleweight champion after his 5th-round TKO of Adesanya at UFC 281 the previous November. Adesanya had spent the 5 months between fights at City Kickboxing with Eugene Bareman, specifically gameplanning the counter-strike that Pereira's pressure pace had been hiding.
Pre-fight context: this was the fourth combat-sports meeting between the two (3 kickboxing + 1 MMA, all Pereira wins). Adesanya was 0-3 in their lifetime series.
The fight
Round 1: Clean kickboxing exchanges. Adesanya found a rhythm at distance using lead-leg side kicks to manage range. Pereira pressed forward but was not landing significant volume. The round was Adesanya's by clean count.
Round 2: Pereira pressed forward in a more committed combination. As he stepped in throwing a left hook, Adesanya pivoted off the back foot and threw a right hook counter over the top. The counter landed clean on Pereira's jaw. Pereira dropped immediately. Follow-up strikes (3-4 clean ground shots) forced the referee stoppage at 4:21 of round 2.
What changed
The fight settled the series at 1-1 in MMA (3-1 lifetime in Pereira's favor including kickboxing). Specific takeaways:
- The City Kickboxing gameplan worked: Adesanya identified that Pereira's pressure pace cost him head movement on the way in. The counter-right was the specific gameplan.
- The "Pereira specter" was lifted: Adesanya had openly discussed in pre-fight interviews that the UFC 281 loss had haunted him through the 5-month camp
- Pereira's MMA development was real but had limits: at 35, against a fully-prepared Adesanya, the pressure-game vulnerability was exposed
Post-fight, Adesanya celebrated by pantomiming a sleep-on-the-canvas reference in front of Pereira's family. The celebration was widely criticized but reflected the depth of the rivalry.
Significance
UFC 287 ended one of the cleanest combat-sports rivalries in modern MMA. After the rematch, Pereira moved up to light heavyweight permanently and won the LHW title at UFC 295; Adesanya remained at middleweight, lost his title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, lost it again to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305, and has not been in title contention since.
The 1-1 MMA tally is likely permanent — Pereira has stated he will not return to middleweight. The rivalry is closed.