Adesanya vs Pereira

Who won Adesanya vs Pereira?

Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya by knockout in the 5th round during the main event of UFC 281, on Saturday 12th November 2022 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 5 rounds in the Middleweight division, which meant the weight limit was 185 pounds (13.2 stone or 83.9 KG).

This contest was for the UFC middleweight championship.

Adesanya vs Pereira stats

Israel Adesanya stepped into the octagon with a record of 23 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 15 of those wins coming by the way of knock out.

Alex Pereira made his way to the cage with a record of 6 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 5 of those wins coming by knock out.

Alex Pereira marked his 8th fight for them, having made his own debut for the promotion in 2021.

Israel Adesanya's UFC record stood at 13-3-0, while Alex Pereira's came in at 7-1-0.

The stats suggested Pereira had an advantage in power over Adesanya, with a 83% knock out percentage over Adesanya's 65%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested that Adesanya and Pereira would have been pretty equal, both with a 0% submission rate.

Israel Adesanya was the younger man by 2 years, at 34 years old.

Adesanya was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 17 more fights, and made his debut in 2012, 3 years and 7 months earlier than Pereira, whose first professional fight was in 2015. He had fought 50 more professional rounds, 76 to Pereira's 26.

Adesanya vs Pereira form

Adesanya had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 1 of them, going to the judges twice.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had lost to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on 9th September 2023 by unanimous decision in their UFC Middleweight championship fight at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia.

Previous to that, he had won against Alex Pereira at UFC 287 on 8th April 2023 by knockout in the 2nd round in their UFC Middleweight championship fight at Miami-Dade Arena, Miami, United States.

Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Alex Pereira at UFC 281 on 12th November 2022 by knockout in the 5th round in their UFC Middleweight championship fight at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

Before that, he had beaten Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 on 2nd July 2022 by unanimous decision in their UFC Middleweight championship fight at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.

He had defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 on 12th February 2022 by unanimous decision in their UFC Middleweight championship fight at Toyota Center, Houston.

Activity check

Adesanya's last 5 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 2 months and 16 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 5 months and 10 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 22 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 4.4 rounds on average.

Pereira's last 4 fights had come over a period of 3 years, 5 months and 8 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 10 months and 9 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 7 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 1.8 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Adesanya vs Pereira?

Israel Adesanya was a 16/25 (-160) favourite going into the contest, while Alex Pereira made his way into the ring at 5/4 (+130) with oddsmakers.