The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been launched into complete disorder since Saturday’s event. The men’s Middleweight Championship bout, Israel Adesanya Vs Alex Pereira spun the division on its head. But furthermore the Women’s Flyweight Champion, Carla Esparza was brought down by Zhang Weili. Lightweight titans and top contenders Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier also created a three-round bloodfest. With that and much more, Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of combat sports, hosted many life-changing and division-breaking fights at UFC 281.
Table Of Contents
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Israel Adesanya Vs Alex Pereira
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Carla Esparza Vs Zhang Weili
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Dustin Poirier Vs Michael Chandler
Israel Adesanya Vs Alex Pereira
The Champion Israel Adesanya was finally unseated by long-time rival and kickboxing nemesis Alex “Poatan” Pereira at UFC 281 last night. A brilliant five-round main event fight, that lived up to all the hype that was built up about both fighters. Israel Adesanya fought a mostly dominant performance against Alex.
Round 1
Israel Adesanya utilized his agility and distance to land significant strikes against the Brazilian Alex. He further drove that point in on the final bell as he almost got the first-round knockout.
Round 2
We saw with absolute clarity that Alex “Poatan” Pereira had the knockout power to finish this match rapidly. Despite being in a clinch with Israel against the cage side, Poatan was landing powerful body shots to slow the champ down.
Rounds 3 & 4
Israel Adesanya found himself winning three of four rounds with his striking. Taking winning points in both rounds three and four. Even got a few takedowns in and relied on his rarely applied wrestling skills to get top control and showcase his ground and pound.
Round 5
Alex “Poatan” unleashed a championship performance in the 5th round. Alex landed a six-punch combination on the middleweight champ “The Last Stylebender” in the final moments of the fifth round. Izzy was backed on the cage side taking punches from Alex. As per the game plan by the legendary, Brazilian, Ex-Light Heavyweight Champion Glover Texiera. In round five the Pereira corner committed and executed an extremely well-earned TKO victory over Israel “the Last Style Bender” Adesanya.
Journalists and analysts alike have speculated about the future of the two middleweight top dogs. They concluded that an immediate rematch is necessary to settle the dispute. Israel has already defeated most of the middleweight top order and Poatan is the second-fastest UFC Champion in history, with four victories, coming only two matches behind the Legend Brock Lesner who achieved Championship status in 2 matches. Hence we need to see Adesanya Vs Pereira 2 to fully settle the argument between these two kickboxing, mixed martial arts prodigies.
Carla Esparza Vs Zhang Weili
Ex-Champion Zhang Weili re-attained her flyweight title from sitting champion Carla Esparza. The mixed martial arts match was scheduled for five rounds but Zhang only needed two to show that there are levels in this game and that she will always improve.
Despite two prior losses at the hands of Rose Namajunas, Zhang looked and performed like a hungry confident fresh fighter. Zhang kept finding takedowns on the Champ Carla and eventually found herself with full back control. She went to execute a tight rear-naked choke to close out the match and celebrate with her team.
Dustin Poirier Vs Michael Chandler
“The Diamond” Dustin Poirier versus “Iron” Michael Chandler was a wild fight through and through. Mixed with a few unintentional rule-breaking actions by Iron Mike it was far from a straightforward fight. Chandler managed to utilize his wrestling on multiple accounts to get the better of Dustin.
In return Dustin Poirier found himself utilizing his superior striking to find himself getting the better of certain brawl engagements against “Iron” Mike. Poirier submitted Chandler with a rear-naked choke in the third round. And for their performances, both men earned Fight of the Night honors and walked away from the Octagon with an extra $50,000 in their pockets.
RDX Sports sends our love and respect to Ex-RDX Ambassador “Iron” Michael Chandler. Despite the loss, he gave a deservingly brilliant performance and we hope that his next match-up and fight is as thrilling as this one. His unfortunate losing streak doesn’t at all accurately reflect the superb entertainment factor of each fight he has been in. And we can hardly wait for him to be back in shape for the next one.
UFC 281, was a spectacle of fantastic performances and knockouts. With two champions unseated and calling out for rematches, the middleweight men’s division and the women’s strawweight division will quite likely have a reshuffle of matchups for future events. Regardless New York, New York showed up and showed out with a brilliant reception at Madison Square Garden for the UFC fights.
