The New Zealand mixed martial arts star of Nigerian origin, Israel Adesanya, was able to take revenge on his Brazilian competitor, Alex Pereira, in the most famous martial arts tournament, UFC, in its 287th event.
And Adesanya was able to finish the match for the middleweight belt, with a technical knockout that came in the second round.
The final 49 seconds of the Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira fight was like watching something out of a movie..
Where does this rank as far as top KO’S go?#UFC287 pic.twitter.com/8el5i2zmaO
— Ty Ross (@TylerDurheim22) April 9, 2023
The atmosphere that preceded the meeting foreshadowed a strong confrontation, as the two fighters clashed in the scale paragraph days before the match, and the organizers intervened to separate them, and the Nigerian and the Brazilian exchanged threats and intimidation, in addition to the fact that Pereira had previously defeated Adesanya 3 times in two different sports, twice in kickboxing. And once in mixed martial arts, which turned the fight into a revenge match.
Brazilian sweep
On April 2, 2016, the two fighters fought their first fight in kickboxing in the Glory 1 competitions in Shenzhen, China, and the Brazilian won the points unanimously.
The second confrontation between them took place on March 4, 2017, at Glory 7 in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, and it ended again in favor of Pereira, this time with a knockout in the third round, following a left punch that knocked Adesanya to the ground and ended his career in this discipline once and for all. He never fought again in kickboxing tournaments.
As for their third fight, and the first in the sport of mixed martial arts, it was on November 22, 2022. Returning to this site, the Nigerian completely dominated the four rounds at that time, and was waiting for the end of the fifth round to retain his title for the sixth time, before the Brazilian surprised him with a series of punches that ended the battle in his favour. And he lost the middleweight world championship title in a state of stupor and shock after the resounding fall of the middleweight legend by knockout for the first time in his history.
Trump attends UFC events
The UFC 287 event was attended by a large crowd, and the most prominent attendee was former US President Donald Trump, who has always been passionate about this combat sport.
🇺🇸 Former US President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at UFC 287 in Miami
Upon learning of his presence, the crowd cheered, chanting “USA, USA, USA”. Trump met with Mike Tyson and UFC President Dana White. pic.twitter.com/IdGmjigZyZ
— Spriter (@Spriter99880) April 9, 2023
Trump has previously attended several combat confrontations, most notably the fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2019.
During one of his visits to Japan years ago, Trump spent what he described as a “wonderful evening” watching a sumo wrestling match in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.