Israel Adesanya has emerged the world middle weight champion in a sweet victory.
Adesanya has revealed the method to the madness behind his knockout of Alex Pereira at UFC 287, as well as the pointed celebrations which followed.
Adesanya regained the UFC middleweight title with a second-round stoppage of the Brazilian who had stopped him three times across MMA and kickboxing.
The fight was following a similar pattern to their last meeting in November, as Pereira looked to slow Adesanya down with leg kicks before teeing off with the hands.
Just as he’d done at UFC 281, Pereira backed Adesanya up against the cage and got to work, this time, however, “Stylebender” covered up before countering with two big right hands to effectively end the fight, followed up by a hammer first for good measure.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Adesanya said the leg kicks were becoming a problem but he intentionally drew a careless attack out from Pereira.“He’s f—in’ good with those leg kicks and in the first round, I was like, ‘F—, again?” Adesanya said.
