Israel Adesanya will take on Alex Pereira in one of the sternest challenges of his career at UFC 281 this weekend.
'The Last Stylebender' will face former two-time kickboxing rival Pereira in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night as he looks to make a sixth consecutive defence of his middleweight crown. Adesanya is yet to lose at 185lb, but will face a formidable test this weekend against the Brazilian who earned his shot after three consecutive victories.
Pereira will be looking to build on his successful start to a UFC career with a remarkable leap to champion, having beaten Adesanya twice in 2016 and 2017 with the latter by KO. The pair have exchanged heated verbal barbs in the build-up to the clash, and will finally get to put their rivalry to bed in a trilogy clash.
Here is all you need to know ahead of Adesanya's return this weekend...
What UK time is Israel Adesanya fighting?
Adesanya will be headlining the UFC 281 card against Pereira which will take place on Saturday November 12 at Madison Square Garden, New York. British fans will return to the accustomed late-night slot for this event, with the early prelims getting underway at 11pm in the UK time.
The main card will get underway at 1am in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the main event ring walks set to get underway at around 4am. Action will likely get underway at around 4:15am but this could be later depending on the duration of the main card clashes beforehand.
How to watch Israel Adesanya fight via TV and live stream in the UK
The early prelim fights will be shown on the UFC's streaming service Fight Pass while the prelim fights will be on BT Sport 1 from 11pm The main card fights including Adesanya's clash with Pereira will then be available on BT Sport 1 from 3am with all of the event available as part of the standard subscription with no extra cost .
The fights can be streamed using the BT Sport player on your computer, laptop or mobile device while using the BT Sport app.
UFC 281 main card
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira – UFC Middleweight Championship
Carla Esparza vs Zhang Weili – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler
Frankie Edgar vs Chris Gutierrez
Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles
Preliminary card
Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano
Dominick Reyes vs Ryan Spann
Molly McCann vs Erin Blanchfield
Andre Petroski vs Wellington Turman
Early preliminary card
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Silvana Gomez Juarez
Michael Trizano vs Choi Seung-woo
Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar
Julio Arce vs Montel Jackson
Carlos Ulberg vs Nicolae Negumereanu
Who wins - Israel Adesanya or Alex Pereira? Let us know in the comments section below
Odds
Adesanya 1/2
Pereira 6/4
Quotes corner
Adesanya: "Vengeance is mine says the lord. Bro, I said the same thing too! This ends here. Kill or be killed. I'm really excited to have someone, finally, who, after the first round or second round they realise they cant do s*** and [don't] just want to be defensive.
"I'm excited to have someone who's going to attack me and try and finish me. This is the story of the fight because he's done it before in the past in kickboxing, so is he going to get knocked out or am I going to get knocked out?"
Pereira: "Many people talk about my two wins about Adesanya and say it was just in kickboxing. People are watching and they know it’s going to be a good fight. People saw my fights with him and how it went. Even the first one, I didn’t win by knockout, it was by points, but it was a fight that excited everybody. It’s going to be a great fight."
