NEW YORK — Israel Adesanya will seek his sixth defense of the UFC’s middleweight championship Saturday, when he meets familiar rival in Alex Pereira at UFC 281 inside Madison Square Garden.
Adesanya (23-1) has won more than three times as many MMA contests as Pereira (6-1) has even competed in, but the UFC accelerated this matchup due to their history. Pereira holds two victories over Adesanya in professional kickboxing, including a vicious knockout in 2017.
It’s a great narrative for Adesanya’s latest title defense, and should preclude a highly technical fight. Pereira has finished two of his three UFC opponents via knockout.
In the co-main event, two-time strawweight champion Carla Esparza (19-6) is a significant underdog against former champion Zhang Weili (22-3), although Esparza has thrived in the underdog role before. Also, lightweight fan favorites Dustin Poirier (28-7) and Michael Chandler (23-7) square off and icon Frankie Edgar makes the final Octagon walk of his career as he faces Chris Gutierrez.
Follow along as Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim recap the action or watch the fights live on ESPN+ PPV.
Fight in progress
Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz (13-7, 6-7 UFC, -105) vs. Silvana Gómez Juárez (11-4, 1-2 UFC, -115)
UFC 281 results
Men’s featherweight: Michael Trizano (10-3, 3-3 UFC, +145) vs. SeungWoo Choi (10-5, 3-4 UFC, -170) by knockout (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Two featherweights on losing streaks entered the Octagon, determined to get off to a positive start. Then, in the opening 30 seconds, both unleashed big left hooks simultaneously. Both landed flush, and both men fell to the canvas.
And with that we had the first crowd-pleasing fight of the night. Once both men climbed back to their feet, they resumed throwing big leather, with Choi continuing with the hard left hooks and Trizano landing right hands that threatened to end the fight — and eventually did.
The first round was winding down when Trizano floored Choi and swarmed him for the finish at 4:51.
“I was not going to be denied. I don’t care. I was going to go out on my shield,” said Trizano, who is 30 and from Ramsey, New Jersey, and ended a two-fight losing streak.
Choi, a 30-year-old from South Korea, has lost three fights in a row.
Bantamweight: Montel Jackson (12-2, 6-2 UFC) def. Julio Arce (18-6, 5-4 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
With the help of that late knockdown, Jackson was able to pull out a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) victory over Arce. Jackson has now knocked down his opponent in five straight bouts. This one came on a power jab that ended up causing nasty swelling and bruising on Arce’s left eye. Jackson said he started the fight wrestling to get Arce more stationary in the striking, leading to that success on the feet.
“I was looking for him to get set a little bit,” Jackson said. “He was moving a lot with his head.”
Jackson, 30, has won three straight and six of his last seven fights. The 30-year-old Milwaukee native has a 6-2 UFC record and seems ready for bigger things in the 135-pound division. Arce, a 33-year-old who lives in Queens, New York, has alternated wins and losses in his last eight fights.
Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg (8-1, 3-1 UFC) def. Nicolae Negumereanu (13-2, 4-2 UFC) by TKO (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
In his first MMA appearance in New York, Ulberg put on an absolute show in a first-round finish against Negumereanu. Ulberg immediately compromised Negumereanu’s lead left leg with calf kicks, before dropping him with a perfect left hook in the center of the cage. The finish came at 3:44 of the round.
Ulberg is one of four members of New Zealand’s City Kickboxing team competing tonight, and he certainly got them off to a hot start. It was a flawless performance, as Negumereanu was only credited with two strikes landed, neither of which had any effect on Ulberg.
The 31-year-old improves to 3-0 in his last three fights and 3-1 overall in the UFC since coming off Contender Series in 2020.
Still to come:
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Middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya (c) (23-1, 12-1 UFC, -220) vs. Alex Pereira (6-1, 3-0 UFC, +180)
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Strawweight championship: Carla Esparza (c) (20-6, 10-4 UFC, +270) vs. Zhang Weili (22-3, 6-2 UFC, -340)
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Lightweight: Dustin Poirier (28-7 1 NC, 20-6 1 NC UFC, -230) vs. Michael Chandler (23-7, 2-2 UFC, +190)
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Bantamweight: Frankie Edgar (23-10-1, 18-10-1 UFC, +190) vs. Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2, 6-1-1 UFC, -230)
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Lightweight: Dan Hooker (21-12, 11-8 UFC, -155) vs. Claudio Puelles (13-2, 5-1 UFC, +130)
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Lightweight: Brad Riddell (10-3, 4-2 UFC, +105) vs. Renato Moicano (16-5-1, 8-5 UFC, -125)
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Light heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (12-3, 6-3 UFC, -220) vs. Ryan Spann (20-7, 6-2 UFC, +180)
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Women’s flyweight: Molly McCann (13-4, 6-3 UFC, +310) vs. Erin Blanchfield (9-1, 3-0 UFC, -400)
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Middleweight: Andre Petroski (8-2, 3-0 UFC, -200) vs. Wellington Thurman (18-5, 3-3 UFC, +170)
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Lightweight: Matt Frevola (9-3-1, 3-3-1 UFC, +125) vs. Ottman Azaitar (13-0, 2-0 UFC, -150)
(c) = defending champion