It took four tries – two in kickboxing, one in MMA – but Israel Adesanya did it. He finally got the best of Alex Pereira.
Adesanya reclaimed gold this past Saturday at UFC 287 in Miami, where he defeated Pereira with a vicious second-round knockout. Heading into the fight, Adesanya put a lot of pressure on himself to finally conquer Pereira, and his post-fight elation showed just how relieved he was to do it.
For Adesanya, it really doesn’t get any bigger than scoring a win like that against your personal boogeyman to become the first two-time middleweight champ. What does this do for Adesanya’s legacy? And now that it’s tied 1-1 in the UFC, do we need the trilogy?
