Recap: Israel Adesanya suffers stunning defeat to Alex Pereira in dramatic UFC 281 main event

Israel Adesanya is the current UFC middleweight champion. He has been unbeaten for 3½ years. Alex Pereira is his nemesis and he meets him in the main event of UFC 281 at New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday night (Sunday NZT). Pereirai has beaten Adeganyana twice before in kickboxing.

Israel Adesanya lost to Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 281. Adeanya is the middleweight champion. He lost his last three fights to Pereiras. Pereras has only seven UFC fights and three in New York.

Israel Adesanya lost to Alex Pereira in the UFC 281 main event.

Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 281. Pereiras won world titles at middleweight and light heavyweight. He was beaten on his UFC debut via rear naked choke. He reeled off three knockout wins before making his debut in November last year. His trainer Eugene Bareman thinks it's ridiculous to give him a title shot after just three fights with the promotion.

Adesanya is a supreme technician and few in the middleweight division can live with his striking game. Pereira is an accomplished kickboxer with an explosive left hook and likes to fight on the outside. Adesana has an advantage in his ground game, he has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and is comfortable on it.

Dan Hooker, Brad Riddell and Carlos Ulberg are on the card. Dan Hookers is coming off two first round stoppages. CarlosUlberg has won two straight fights since his UFC debut. Nicolae Negumereanu is a former Real Xtreme Fighting champion. He is paying $1.76 at the TAB.

Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler are going to meet in the main event of UFC 281. Carla Esparza will defend her strawweight title against China's Zhang Weili. Molly McCann and Erin Blanchfield are also going head-to-head in a flyweight bout.

The main card starts at 4 pm NZT on Sky TV and Spark Sport. The prelims start at 2 pm on ESPN. UFC Fight Pass is available on the streaming service.

Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, Carla Esparza, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, Frankie Edgar, Chris Gutierrez, Dan Hooker and Claudio Puelles are on the main card.

Brad Riddell v Renato Moicano, Dominick Reyes v Ryan Spann, Erin Blanchfield v Molly McCann and Andre Petroski v Wellington Turman are the UFC 281 preliminary fights.

Matt Frevola, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Michael Trizano, Julio Arce, Carlos Ulberg and Nicolae Negumereanu are on the early prelims.