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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Justin Barrasso

Pereira Overwhelms Adesanya with Fifth-Round Flurry at UFC 281

NEW YORK—Alex Pereira is making this look easy.

In only his fourth UFC bout, and eighth MMA fight overall, Pereira unleashed a flurry of shots on Israel Adesanya in the fifth round to force a referee stoppage. Pereira had already defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, becoming the only man to ever knock out Adesanya–and he has now taken his title with a TKO victory.

Pereira (7-1) tagged Adesanya with a right hand in the fifth, then unloaded on him. It was too much to withstand, and the sequence ended with Adesanya (23-2) taking his first-ever loss as a middleweight. With the win, Pereira is the new undisputed middleweight champion.

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