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.
