Tag: UFC 281

UFC free fight video: Alex Pereira wins title with TKO over rival Israel Adesanya

Alex Pereira seemed to haunt Israel Adesanya for years, but perhaps never more so than at UFC 281.

For years, [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] seemed to haunt [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag].

It was one thing when Pereira did it in kickboxing. It was another when he followed Adesanya to MMA and finished him with punches to win the UFC middleweight title. The stoppage, which was later disputed by Adesanya, came at 2:01 of Round 5.

The victorious Pereira outing vs. Adesanya in MMA was in November 2022 at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

While Adesanya ultimately got his long-awaited revenge with a brutal knockout five months later at UFC 287, Pereira’s name will always be one that held promotional gold.

Ahead of Pereira’s return at UFC 295 vs. Jiri Prochazka on Saturday, relive his successful MMA outing vs. Adesanya in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

MMA Junkie’s 2022 Fight of the Year: Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira

Check out which epic battle earned MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Year award for 2022.

With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best fights from January to December 2022.

As voted on by our entire staff, here are the top five and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Year.

Honorable mentions

MMA Junkie’s 2022 Submission of the Year: Islam Makhachev def. Charles Oliveira

Islam Makhachev finishing the most decorated grappler in UFC history secured him lightweight gold and MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Year for 2022.

With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best submissions from January to December 2022.

As voted on by our entire staff, here are the top 10 and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Year.

Honorable mentions

Video: UFC’s Event of the Year nominees include three legendary world cities

The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four, including events in London, Paris and New York.

The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four.

The promotion this past week unveiled the four finalists on its list for Event of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite of the four through the UFC’s YouTube channel or social media platforms.

Two international cities, including one the UFC visited for the first time, are on the list, as is another of the most famous cities and venues in the world.

Check out the four finalists on the UFC’s list below, as well as looks back at their aftermaths. In addition, you can see a recap of all four highlight-reel finishes in the video above.

Chael Sonnen’s 2022 Comeback of the Year is not Leon Edwards or Alex Pereira

Chael Sonnen lauds Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira for their title-winning finishes, but they’re not his 2022 Comeback of the Year.

[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] lauds [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] for their title-winning finishes, but they’re not his 2022 Comeback of the Year.

Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) came from behind to land a stunning head kick knockout of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 to capture the welterweight title. Edwards was down 3-1 heading into Round 5 before he blasted Usman with a perfect head shot. The finish came with 56 seconds remaining in the fight.

Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) also was down 3-1 before he rallied to finish and dethrone middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in Round 5 at UFC 281.

But for Sonnen, it’s [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]’s submission of Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 that gets his pick. After a back-and-forth fight, Prochazka submitted Teixeira with 28 seconds left in the fight. He was down 3-1 on two of the three judges’ scorecards.

“It was Prochazka over Glover,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I just thought for how great that fight was, for how many times it looked like that fight was going to be stopped, and then the fact that we get the mathematical equation at the end of the night, which is that Glover was 30 seconds away from remaining world champion.

“He did not have to beat Prochazka. He didn’t have to win the round. He didn’t have to win another sequence. He didn’t have to land another punch. He just had to run out the clock. I thought that Prochazka should have got more credit.”

Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Teixeira’s fight had various momentum swings in which each fighter looked like he was about to get finished. But ultimately, Prochazka was able to outlast the Brazilian.

The pair was booked for a title-fight rematch at UFC 282, but Prochazka vacated his belt after a severe shoulder injury that required surgery put him on the sidelines indefinitely.

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UFC in 2022: A ridiculously robust look at the stats, streaks, skids and record-setters

Check out a full recap of 2022’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.

Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll, here are some of 2022’s most significant milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances in the octagon.

Eugene Bareman ‘quietly confident’ Israel Adesanya can win Alex Pereira rematch ‘with a few adjustments’

As a reminder, Israel Adesanya was beating Alex Pereira “relatively comfortably” before the fifth-round TKO at UFC 281.

City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman doesn’t doubt that [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] can avenge his loss to UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag].

Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) lost his title to Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) when he was stopped in Round 5 of their UFC 281 headliner last month. Adesanya was up 3-1 on the judges’ scorecards, but Pereira rallied to finish him by TKO in the fifth.

Bareman, the Coach of the Year at the 2022 World MMA Awards, likes what he saw out of his star pupil, and thinks with a couple of changes, Adesanya can get his hand raised.

“We’re quietly confident,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “You got to understand, we were winning that fight relatively comfortably. We felt we were taking the rounds. But not comfortable enough – when you’re fighting somebody like that, who’s game plan appears to be, it’s not a guy who builds his game plan around accumulation of damage.

“He’s a guy that builds his game plan around mentally wearing down and trying to land one big shot. And he’s comfortable giving rounds and then not panicking, because he gives away rounds, and it’s part of a bigger picture for him, setting up what he ultimately is looking for. And with a few adjustments, we can make some changes there and build on a lot of positive things that happened in that fight for us.”

The promotion hasn’t announced what’s next for Pereira, but Bareman thinks rematching Adesanya is what makes sense. Although Pereira appears to have Adesanya’s number with three wins over him, including two in kickboxing, Adesanya has performed well in those outings.

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With their history, Bareman thinks it only makes sense that the UFC books an immediate rematch. He thinks Khamzat Chimaev’s call for a title shot against Pereira shouldn’t even be entertained.

“I haven’t seen the numbers on the last fight, but I’m sure they’re very, very good,” Bareman said. “I think in the middleweight division, I still think that’s the biggest fight. Khamzat’s a rising star, but he’s literally done nothing at middleweight. So he hasn’t established himself. You’re talking about two guys at the top of the food chain in terms of their status in combat sports. Khamzat’s a rising star. Like, he’s a massive rising star. But he’s not in the position of these two guys. This is the biggest fight. Khamzat still has to beat people at middleweight and work his way up to even fighting one of these guys.

“So, unless the politics take over and the business of the sport take over – and that’s essentially how we arrived at this fight that we’re talking about, right? So, it’s still the biggest fight to make. And at the end of the day, it’s not Alex’s choice. It will be Alex’s choice when he makes X-amount of title defenses and does well for the company and all that. Then it becomes Alex’s choice. But at the moment we’ve got a (former) champion who’s done so much for this company, who’s defended his title so many times. He kind of gets to … if he wants a rematch, I believe that that’s what he should get.”

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Carla Esparza at peace with Zhang Weili loss, vows she’s ‘not done in this fight game’

Carla Esparza will take some time off after losing her UFC strawweight title, but she’s not done yet.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Carla Esparza[/autotag] will take some time off after losing her UFC strawweight title, but she’s not done fighting.

Esparza (19-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) was dethroned by Weili in the co-main event of UFC 281 in November, failing to notch a title defense once again. But this isn’t unfamiliar territory for the inaugural UFC strawweight champion.

After losing her title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015, Esparza was able to reinvent herself and went on a six-fight unbeaten run in which she defeated Rose Namajunas for a second time to become a two-time champion.

“Honestly I’m at peace with it,” Esparza told MMA Junkie of her loss to Weili while on the World MMA Awards red carpet. “I think after fighting for so long you just feel it’s a part of the game – wins and losses. I’ve been doing this for 13-plus years, so at the end of the day, I’m really happy with what I’ve accomplished up until this point, and I feel good about it. I’m in a good place.”

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Esparza, who got married after recapturing the title against Namajunas last May, said she’d like to start a family some day. She hasn’t decided her next move but assured that fighting is definitely still part of her future.

“I just want to take it day by day, fight by fight,” Esparza said. “The next couple of years, definitely have a family is really important to me. I think I’m still in the talks, I’m obviously still in the top five, so I don’t think making my way back is too far out of that realm, but I’m just kind of taking it fight by fight.”

She continued, “I’m not done in this fight game. I still have business to do, so we’ll see what step I take next.”

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Marc Goddard stands by Alex Pereira-Israel Adesanya stoppage: ’11 times out of 10 wouldn’t change a thing’

Marc Goddard is certain that he didn’t do Israel Adesanya wrong by stopping his title fight vs. Alex Pereira at UFC 282.

LAS VEGAS – Referee Marc Goddard believes he handled [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]’s stoppage of [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] perfectly fine.

Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) rallied to claim the middleweight title with a standing TKO of Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in the fifth round at UFC 281, where he had Adesanya badly hurt against the cage.

Adesanya immediately protested the stoppage and has continued to since then, but Goddard stands by his call.

“I feel very good,” Goddard told MMA Junkie on the World MMA Awards red carpet. “Israel, I think he’s a great guy. I think he was a fantastic champion. I’m not just saying it because I’m here. I like the guy a lot. I like all the fighters. That’s my job, I’m down the line, and if I done that fight again, 11 times out of 10 I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m very comfortable with my actions, and the people who know me will know I’m my harshest critic.

“It’s a very fine line. We don’t get second takes, reverse angles, etc. People find it weird when we say we’re there to protect the fighters when they knock hell’s bells out of each other for 25 minutes. … At the end of the day, my job is to act instinctually and correctly to protect the guys. It was an amazing fight. Congratulations to Alex, all the respect in the world to Izzy. I’m happy with what I did.”

Adesanya was up 3-1 on all three judges’ scorecards before he was stopped. A big left hook by Pereira had Adesanya on wobbly legs in the final round, prompting him to fall back against the fence. Goddard called the stoppage at 2:01 of Round 5.

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Israel Adesanya metal knuckles case to be dismissed pending further compliance

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya appears to be off the hook after a recent arrest – as long as he behaves.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] won’t face further legal action for his November arrest – as long as he stays out of trouble.

Tuesday, the Queens District Attorney’s Office (N.Y.) handed Adesanya an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD) at a hearing related to his November arrest at JFK Airport.

An ACD indicates the case will be dismissed at a future hearing as long as certain conditions are met. In this case, it’s good behavior for six months.

TMZ Sports first reported the development.

Adesanya, 33, was arrested Nov. 17 after he allegedly tried to bring metal knuckles through TSA airport security. Adesanya was allowed to return home to New Zealand. Adesanya was given a disk ticket as a result of the alleged incident, which occurred just days after he lost his middleweight title to Alex Pereira at UFC 281.

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Adesanya has yet to comment on the matter though his manager Tim Simpson, of Paradigm Sports, issued a written statement at the time to media outlets including MMA Junkie.

“Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage,” Simpson said. “When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item and cooperated with authorities. He has complied accordingly. With that, the matter was dismissed and he’s on his way home.”

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