Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya has lost his UFC middleweight belt after suffering a fifth-round technical knockout to Alex Pereira in Saturday’s night UFC 281 event.
The rivalry between Pereira and Adesanya was ignited at the Madison Square Garden but it ended the same way as their previous two fights in kickboxing.
Pereira continued his dominance over the ‘Last Stylebender’ with strings of heavy punches in the fifth round that resulted in referee Marc Goddard coming into the ring to separate them for a technical knockout.
Adesanya had a great start to the fight, with his attacking shots in the first three rounds and he was clearly frustrated by Goddard’s decision to end the fight early with 2 minutes left in round five.
The defeat ended the 33-year-old’s dominance in the middleweight category and it was his second defeat in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in his 25th duel.
