An undisputed UFC middleweight championship fight between division best, Israel Adesanya, and the #5 ranked division contender, Alex Pereira is set to take main event honors at UFC 281 on November 12. From Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Sharing a distinct rivalry throughout their respective combat sports careers, Israel Adesanya twice shared the GLORY Kickboxing squared circle with Pereira – suffering both a controversial unanimous decision loss to the Brazilian, to go with a thunderous 2017, one punch knockout defeat.
Israel Adesanya headlines for the third time this annum
Also sharing the UFC 276 pay-per-view card during International Fight Week last month, Adesanya headlined the event with a lacklustre unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier.
As for Sao Paulo native, Pereira, the former two-weight GLORY Kickboxing champion managed to latch onto his third Octagon win with a blistering first round knockout win over the surging, Sean Strickland. The UFC confirmed the headlining clash between Adesanya and Pereira on their official Twitter account this Friday night.
As announced on @SportsCenter, we have a ??????? main event set for MSG
@Stylebender vs Alex Pereira is confirmed for #UFC281!
[ Tickets on sale Friday August 26th
— UFC (@ufc) August 5, 2022
]
“As announced on @SportsCenter, we have a MASSIVE main event set for MSG (Madison Square Garden) (apple emoji). @Stylebender (Israel Adesanya) vs. Alex Pereira is confirmed for #UFC281!”
Securing his fifth successul defense of the undisputed middleweight title last month, Adesanya added Cannonier to a string of successful title knockbacks against two-time opponents, Robert Whittaker, and Marvin Vettori – in between a dominant second round knockout win over Pereira’s compatriot, Paulo Costa.
Landing in the UFC back in November at Madison Square Garden, Pereira managed to stop Greece natvie, Andreas Michailidis with a highlight-reel second round flying knee knockout, before defeating Bruno Silva in an all-Brazilian showcase earlier this year.
Billed to compete against Strickland in an expected title-eliminator at the beginning of July, Pereira made short work of the North Carolina native – springing with a brutal left hook knockout in the opening round.