Israel Adesanya has not shied away from his KO loss to Alex Pereira, admitting he has watched the stoppage over 20 times in the weeks since.
The former middleweight champion had seemed unbeatable at 185lb in the MMA cage, having only lost once when he attempted to move up to 205lb and become a two-weight world champion. But he had previously been beaten twice, including one brutal stoppage, by Pereira during his kickboxing days and knew the trilogy of sorts was a risk.
Pereira had only been fighting MMA for a fraction of the time Adesanya had when the pair met for the third time, and showed his inexperience early in the bout. But the champion couldn't hold on until the end of the fifth round and allowed a massive shot through with minutes to go to relinquish his title after three years atop the division.
