On Saturday, in the main event of UFC 287 in Miami, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya gave it another go against Alex Pereira. And he finally earned a win against his biggest nemesis.
Heading into the fight, Adesanya was 0-3 against Pereira, having been knocked out in the last two. The most recent finish came on Nov. 12 in New York when Pereira, trailing three rounds to one on all three scorecards, rallied to knock Adesanya out in the fifth round at UFC 281 to win the middleweight title. Pereira also was 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing, winning the second of the two bouts by third-round KO.
But after losing his UFC belt to Pereira in devastating fashion, Adesanya insisted upon a rematch, and got it. Some of his peers thought it wasn’t the best decision to go straight into another fight with Pereira. That school of thought goes that Adesanya should have taken a couple of fights to regain his confidence and work on new strategies he needs to defeat Pereira.
That, though, is not how Israel Adesanya operates. He wanted the rematch and wanted it as soon as possible. After knocking out Pereira in the second round on Saturday, Adesanya’s urgency clearly paid off and he’s once again the middleweight champion.
In Saturday’s co-main event, Jorge Masvidal fought Gilbert Burns needing a win to avoid the first four-fight losing streak of his career, but it wasn’t meant to be as Burns outworked “Gamebred” en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Rob Font delivered a first-round upset with a brutal knockout of Adrian Yanez immediately prior to the featured fights of the night. Font hadn’t fought since a loss to Marlon Vera in April 2022 and came into the fight as a +150 underdog.
Kevin Holland knocked out Santiago Ponzinibbio to get back in the win column after two straight losses. Holland used his post-fight interview to call out Jorge Masvidal. Holland and Masvidal had a verbal dispute at the fighter hotel this week in Miami ahead of Masvidal co-main event matchup versus Burns.
In the pay-per-view opener, hyped prospect Raul Rosas Jr. lost his first professional MMA fight in a unanimous decision to Christian Rodriguez.
Stay tuned to Yahoo Sports for all the news and results from the entire card.
UFC 287 live tracker
UFC 287 main card results, highlights
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Welterweight: Gilbert Burns def. Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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Bantamweight: Rob Font def. Adrian Yanez by TKO (punches) at 2:57 of R1:
UFC 287 prelims results, highlights
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Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum def. Chris Curtis by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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Strawweight: Luana Pinheiro def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
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Middleweight: Joe Pyfer def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (punches) at 3:15 of R1:
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Heavyweight: Karl Williams (-400) vs. Chase Sherman (+310) -
Strawweight: Loopy Godinez def. Cynthia Calvillo by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
UFC 287 early prelims results, highlights
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Catchweight (160 lbs): Ignacio Bahamondes def. Trey Ogden by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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Featherweight: Steve Garcia def. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke by KO (liver shots) at 0:36 of R2:
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