Israel Adesanya knocks out Alex Pereira in UFC 287 main event

Nigeria’a Israel Adesanya, has secured a second round knockout win over his rival Alex Pereira in a scintillating comeback in Saturday’s UFC 287 main event.

In November Adesanya suffered his third defeat to the Brazilian across kickboxing and MMA, but eventually got his  revenge with a pair of brutal right hands that demolished Pereira to end their fifth fight on Saturday.

The official stoppage came at 4:21 in the second round as Adesanya becomes a two-time UFC middleweight champion but more importantly he picks up arguably the biggest and most important win of his career.

“They say revenge is sweet and if you know me, I’ve got a sweet tooth,” Adesanya said afterwards. “This is f****** sweet. I’m telling you, no matter what, Alex is a great champion. He lost the belt tonight but he will always be the champion.

“I told you, the hunter is now the hunted. Beating me, he made me a better fighter, a better person. In this camp, I didn’t f*** around. That last one had everything. Since 2017, that last hammer fist was from the gods.”