UFC 281 LIVE: Adesanya vs Pereira

CloseUFC women’s strawweight Zhang Weili lifts heavyweight champion Francis NgannouIsrael Adesanya defends his middleweight title against Alex Pereira in the UFC 281 main event at Madison Square Garden tonight, as the champion looks to avenge two kickboxing defeats to his challenger.Adesanya is unbeaten at middleweight in mixed martial arts, his sole professional loss having come while challenging for light heavyweight gold last year. But the Nigerian-born New Zealander’s kickboxing career involved a few losses, with Brazilian Pereira having outpointed Adesanya in 2016 and knocked out the ‘Last Stylebender’ in 2017. Pereira, 35, is 6-1 in MMA, having won five of those bouts via knockout while being fast-tracked to a title shot in New York City tonight.In the co-main event, Carla Esparza begins her second reign as women’s strawweight champion with a title defence against Zhang Weili, who held the belt between 2019 and 2021. In her last outing, the Chinese fighter knocked out icon Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a spinning back elbow, while Esparza outpointed Zhang’s recent rival Rose Namajunas to claim the gold. In the night’s other featured bout, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler meet in a huge lightweight clash. Follow live round-by-round updates from the UFC 281 main card and prelims, below.Israel Adesanya (C) vs Alex Pereira (middleweight title)Carla Esparza (C) vs Weili Zhang (women’s strawweight title)Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler (lightweight)Frankie Edgar vs Chris Gutierrez (bantamweight)Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles (lightweight)1668277739In the co-main event, Carla Esparza begins her second reign as women’s strawweight champion with a title defence against Zhang Weili, who held the belt between 2019 and 2021. In her last outing, the Chinese fighter knocked out icon Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a spinning back elbow, while Esparza outpointed Zhang’s recent rival Rose Namajunas to claim the gold. In the night’s other featured bout, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler meet in a huge lightweight clash.Furthermore, former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar fights one last time before retiring, and fan favourite Dan Hooker is in action.Alex Pattle12 November 2022 18:28