Magic words that triggered brutal Adesanya KO
Alex Pereira has produced one of the most staggering results in recent UFC history, claiming a TKO win over Israel Adesanya to become the world middleweight champion.
The defending champion was up three rounds to one on all three judges’ scorecards going into the final round, with the challenger needing to find a stoppage to win.
Somehow, he pulled it off.
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“I feel so good, I trained all my life, I worked so hard for this – it was written,” he said afterwards.
It was just his fourth fight in the UFC, and some people had question marks over his ability to go five rounds – but he well and truly silenced those.
“It was a very hard fight … but I was going through a fight every day at the gym,” he said in regards to his training.
There’ll undoubtedly be a rematch, with that being Adesanya’s first-ever loss as a middleweight, not to mention the fact that he was just a couple of minutes from victory.
There’s no denying that the Brazilian was falling behind in the middle rounds, but his corner told him exactly what he needed to hear before that fifth and final round.
”He looked at me like ‘do I have to knock him out?’ and I said ‘you better knock him out, if you want this, you better knock him out’,” coach and training partner Glover Teixeira said.
“I’m so happy man – it’s going to motivate me for the next month.”
The now 43-year-old will have a title fight of his own next month at UFC 282, when he attempts to regain his lightweight title from Jiří Procházka.
Poirier wins thrilling fight
Earlier on the card, Chinese superstar Zhang Weili regained the women’s strawweight championship after submitting Carla Esparza in the second round, while Dustin Poirier claimed the win in a fight of the year contender against Michael Chandler.
The legend Frankie Edgar was knocked out brutally in his last fight before retirement, while Adesanya’s stablemates had mixed fortunes.
Both Dan Hooker and Carlos Ulberg recorded TKO and KO wins, respectively, while Brad Riddell was submitted by Renato Moicano.
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