Israel Adesanya of Nigeria reacts after knocking out Alex Pereira of Brazil in the UFC Middleweight Championship bout during the UFC 287 event at Kaseya Center on April 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
On Saturday at UFC 287’s main event in Miami, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya tried again against Alex Pereira. And he’s finally won a victory against his greatest nemesis.
Heading into the fight, Adesanya was 0-3 against Pereira after being eliminated in the last two. The final finish came on November 12 in New York when Pereira, trailing three rounds to one on all three scorecards, rallied to knock out Adesanya in the fifth round at UFC 281 to win the middleweight title. Pereira was also 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing, winning the second of the two fights by KO in the third round.
But after losing his UFC belt to Pereira in a devastating manner, Adesanya insisted on a rematch and got it. Some of his peers didn’t think going straight into another fight with Pereira was the best decision. This school of thought states that Adesanya should have put in a few fights to regain his confidence and work on new strategies he needs to defeat Pereira.
However, that is not how Israel Adesanya works. He wanted the rematch and he wanted it as soon as possible. After defeating Pereira in the second round on Saturday, Adesanya’s urgency clearly paid off and he is the Middleweight Champion once again.
In Saturday’s co-main event, Jorge Masvidal fought Gilbert Burns, who needed a win to avoid the first losing streak of his career with four fights, but it wasn’t to be as Burns outplayed “Gamebred” en route to a unanimous decision win .
Rob Font caused an upset in the first round with a brutal knockout of Adrian Yanez just before the night’s featured bouts. Font hadn’t fought since a loss to Marlon Vera in April 2022 and came into the fight as a +150 underdog.
Kevin Holland defeated Santiago Ponzinibbio to return to the Victory Column after back-to-back defeats. Holland used his post-fight interview to call Jorge Masvidal. Holland and Masvidal had a verbal argument ahead of the co-main event matchup between Masvidal and Burns at the Fighter Hotel in Miami this week.
The story goes on
At the pay-per-view opener, hyped Raul Rosas Jr. lost his first professional MMA fight to Christian Rodriguez by unanimous decision.
Stay tuned to Yahoo Sports for all the latest news and results across the map.
UFC 287 live tracker
UFC 287 main card results, highlights
Welterweight: Gilbert Burns def. Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Bantamweight: Rob Font defeated. Adrian Yanez by TKO (punches) at 2:57 from R1:
UFC 287 preliminary round results, highlights
Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum def. Chris Curtis by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Strawweight: Defeated Luana Pinheiro. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Middleweight: Joe Pyfer defeated. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (punches) at 3:15 from R1:
Heavyweight: Karl Williams (-400) vs. Chase Sherman (+310)
Strawweight: Defeated Loopy Godinez. Cynthia Calvillo by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
UFC 287 early preliminary results, highlights
Catch weight (160 lbs): Ignacio Bahamondes def. Trey Ogden by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Featherweight: Steve Garcia def. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke by KO (liver shots) at 0:36 from R2: