Alex Pereira stopped Israel Adesanya in the final round to deliver a stunning upset and become UFC middleweight champion.
The Brazilian was behind on all three judges' scorecards heading into the fifth session, but managed to drop Adesanya and impose his fearsome striking power to stop his old kickboxing rival. Adesanya had never lost at middleweight or been stopped in his MMA career, but Pereira was able to re-live their second kickboxing bout with a come-from-behind win.
The stars were out in force at Madison Square Garden to witness an historic battle between the duo with the likes of Mike Tyson, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sylvester Stallone in attendance for Adesanya's sixth world title defence since dethroning Robert Whittaker in October 2019 and unifying the division.
Pereira was the aggressor at the start of the contest, flying out of the traps to throw a big head kick that missed the champion. They both focused more on leg kicks after the quick start, with Adesanya finding some success with his jab as well as moving up with his kicks.
But it was ultimately something of a chess match in the opening stanza on a night otherwise filled with finishes. Just three of the 13 undercard bouts went to the judges, with the entire main card ending in stoppages including a barn-burner between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler.
That was until the final second of the round when Adesanya landed a beautiful combination that saw Pereira wobbled before being directed to his corner. A right hand caused the damage which was compounded by a left hook, but the Brazilian was able to continue into the second.
Adesanya narrowly dodged some big shots in the second round, but appeared comfortable sitting against the cage and allowing Pereira to come to him. At that point, both men were opening up more with their movement, with the champion looking solid in the clinch before shooting for a rare takedown that had fans excited.
In the third, Adesanya began to get his punches together more fluidly, but he was once again brought to the ground by a Pereira trip before taking control and taking the Brazilian's back. The round played out almost entirely on the ground, something nobody could have anticipated going into a fight between two such high level strikers, with Adesanya controlling the action.
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Pereira landed a couple of big elbows from his back, but it was otherwise all Adesanya who finished the round well with an unorthodox kick to the body amid a stand-off over position. And heading into the championship rounds, the Brazilian was likely made aware that a finish was needed in order to win the fight after three unfavourable rounds for him.
The fourth was closer in style to the first, with neither man pushing the pace too much and Adesanya happy to allow Pereira to chase him. They headed into the fifth round with Pereira raising his arms to the crowd after the closest round of the fight, but at the time it seemed to be at least 3-1 in the champion's favour.
Fans began to boo in the fifth as Adesanya clinched with his rival, but they were on their feet when Pereira managed to put him down. He managed to recover and land a big combination of his own shortly after, but the damage was done and Pereira managed to land cleanly again to drop him and ultimately get the knockout win.
