Brazil’s Alex Pereira knocked out Israel Adesanya in the fifth and final round to emerge the new UFC middleweight champion early Sunday morning.
In the third round, Nigerian Adesanya secured his first-ever UFC takedown and showed he had a clear advantage on the ground against his inexperienced opponent.
Pereira emerged for round four looking exhausted from the grappling exchanges and seemed to be on his way to a decision defeat when the unthinkable happened in the final frame.
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The Brazilian landed a flurry of punches that had Adesanya out of his feet before referee Marc Goddard step in end the contest.
Prior to Saturday’s bout, Adesanya had already lost twice against Pereira. The first loss in a kickboxing match happened in April 2016, a fight Adesanya lost by unanimous decision.
The second fight left nothing to speculation as Pereira koncked out Adesanya with a powerful one-two that sent him right to the mat.
Recall in August another Nigerian UFC fighter Usman Kamaru lost his welterweight title to Leon Edwards.
Usman was on his way to making the sixth defence of his title against Edwards after being up on the judges scorecards heading into the final round of the fight.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was in control of the fifth round and seemed to be cruising his way to a decision win, but Edwards landed a perfect head kick that rendered him unconscious as he suffered his first-ever UFC defeat.
