Adesanya vs. Pereira: Live results and analysis

NEW YORK -- Israel Adesanya volition question his sixth defence of the UFC's middleweight title Saturday, erstwhile helium meets acquainted rival successful Alex Pereira astatine UFC 281 wrong Madison Square Garden.

Adesanya (23-1) has won much than 3 times arsenic galore MMA contests arsenic Pereira (6-1) has adjacent competed in, but the UFC accelerated this matchup owed to their history. Pereira holds 2 victories implicit Adesanya successful nonrecreational kickboxing, including a vicious knockout successful 2017.

It's a large communicative for Adesanya's latest rubric defense, and should preclude a highly method fight. Pereira has finished 2 of his 3 UFC opponents via knockout.

In the co-main event, two-time strawweight champion Carla Esparza (19-6) is simply a important underdog against erstwhile champion Zhang Weili (22-3), though Esparza has thrived successful the underdog relation before. Also, lightweight instrumentality favorites Dustin Poirier (28-7) and Michael Chandler (23-7) quadrate disconnected and icon Frankie Edgar makes the last Octagon locomotion of his vocation arsenic helium faces Chris Gutierrez.

Follow on arsenic Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim recap the enactment oregon watch the fights unrecorded connected ESPN+ PPV.

Fight successful progress

Bantamweight: Julio Arce (18-5, 5-3 UFC, +175) vs. Montel Jackson (11-2, 5-2 UFC, -210)

UFC 281 results

Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg (8-1, 3-1 UFC) def. Nicolae Negumereanu (13-2, 4-2 UFC) by TKO (Watch this combat connected ESPN+)

In his archetypal MMA quality successful New York, Ulberg enactment connected an implicit amusement successful a first-round decorativeness against Negumereanu. Ulberg instantly compromised Negumereanu's pb near limb with calf kicks, earlier dropping him with a cleanable near hook successful the halfway of the cage. The decorativeness came astatine 3:44 of the round.

Ulberg is 1 of 4 members of New Zealand's City Kickboxing squad competing tonight, and helium surely got them disconnected to a blistery start. It was a flawless performance, arsenic Negumereanu was lone credited with 2 strikes landed, neither of which had immoderate effect connected Ulberg.

The 31-year-old improves to 3-0 successful his past 3 fights and 3-1 wide successful the UFC since coming disconnected Contender Series successful 2020.

Still to come:

• Middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya (c) (23-1, 12-1 UFC, -220) vs. Alex Pereira (6-1, 3-0 UFC, +180)

• Strawweight championship: Carla Esparza (c) (20-6, 10-4 UFC, +270) vs. Zhang Weili (22-3, 6-2 UFC, -340)

• Lightweight: Dustin Poirier (28-7 1 NC, 20-6 1 NC UFC, -230) vs. Michael Chandler (23-7, 2-2 UFC, +190)

• Bantamweight: Frankie Edgar (23-10-1, 18-10-1 UFC, +190) vs. Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2, 6-1-1 UFC, -230)

• Lightweight: Dan Hooker (21-12, 11-8 UFC, -155) vs. Claudio Puelles (13-2, 5-1 UFC, +130)

• Lightweight: Brad Riddell (10-3, 4-2 UFC, +105) vs. Renato Moicano (16-5-1, 8-5 UFC, -125)

• Light heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (12-3, 6-3 UFC, -220) vs. Ryan Spann (20-7, 6-2 UFC, +180)

• Women's flyweight: Molly McCann (13-4, 6-3 UFC, +310) vs. Erin Blanchfield (9-1, 3-0 UFC, -400)

• Middleweight: Andre Petroski (8-2, 3-0 UFC, -200) vs. Wellington Thurman (18-5, 3-3 UFC, +170)

• Lightweight: Matt Frevola (9-3-1, 3-3-1 UFC, +125) vs. Ottman Azaitar (13-0, 2-0 UFC, -150)

• Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz (13-7, 6-7 UFC, -105) vs. Silvana Gómez Juárez (11-4, 1-2 UFC, -115)

• Men's featherweight: Michael Trizano (10-3, 3-3 UFC, +145) vs. SeungWoo Choi (10-5, 3-4 UFC, -170)

(c) = defending champion