UFC 281: Pereira Defeats Adesanya, Zhang Gets Her Belt Back

Alex Pereira dethroned Israel Adesanya, while Zhang Weili did the same to Carla Esparza at the UFC 281 held at the Madison Square Garden this Saturday night. Before that, Dustin Poirier managed to defeat Michael Chandler in a wild lightweight matchup, which is for sure among candidates for the fight of the year.

Pereira proved to be an enigma for Izzy, who lost the third bout to the Brazilian, only this time, it cost him the UFC middleweight title. At 2:01 of the fifth round, the Brazilian found a way to shake Adesanya with jabs before eventually inflicting a short left semi-hook that dazzled the champion.

He would then unleash a flurry of punches upon the Kiwi, and the referee in the ring had to jump in and stop the bout. Pereira’s raw power prevailed in this event, despite him being behind on the scoreboards at each judge besides the ring.

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Up until that point, it was pretty much all about Izzy, who was controlling the fight well and who managed to make his opponent flat. Pereira had a brief shine in the second round, but other than that, Adesanya was dominating the octagon. We saw him inflict one left hook at the end of the first round that did damage to the challenger, who was saved by the horn.

In the third, Adesanya showed grappling skills, controlling the rival on the mat throughout the majority of the sequence. He did more or less the same in the fourth, and it seemed that Pereira didn’t have any more gas in his tank.

Though, his size and power were crucial here, as he stalked for one chance to hit Adesanya, which eventually happened. Jabs and hooks were his weapon, and with the time winding down in the fourth and without anything to lose, the Brazilian pumped up the tempo, taking the risk, which eventually paid off.

After only four fights in the UFC, Pereira took the belt, becoming one of the fastest champions in the history of the organization.

In the ladies’ strawweight title bout, Zhang Weilli took the belt from Carla Esparza, whom she submitted in the second round. The American had no chance in this one, with Weili dominating her in stand-up or on the mat.

ZHANG WEILI: BACK ATOP THE STRAWWEIGHT DIVISION 🏆 #UFC281 pic.twitter.com/yzXDD1kYTd

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 13, 2022

The finish came at 1:05 of the second round, and much easier than some expected. It was obvious right from the start that Esparza wasn’t at Weili’s level and that the Chinese would regain the belt she won back in 2019 against Jessica Andrade.

And in the best fight of the night, Dustin Poirier submitted Michael Chandler in the third round, but only after experiencing one hell of a challenge. Chandler inflicted more hits, had more time in control, and was overall better in the opening two rounds.

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Though, he lacked juice in the third, and Poirier, who was on the rink of losing on a couple of occasions, realized that, deciding to increase the tempo. Instead of calming the situation down, Chandler decided to go for another takedown, and shortly after, he found himself in a nasty problem as Poirier found a way to submit him and win this one.

Up next, we have the UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Spivac.