Alex Pereira has become the new UFC middleweight champion, claiming a fifth-round knockout win over Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya in the main event at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday morning.

The 35-year-old sensationally stopped Adesanya in the fifth round with a flurry of punches which led to the referee calling a halt to the contest.

The Brazilian secured the title, which Adesanya had held since 2019, in only his fourth fight in the UFC and eighth in mixed martial arts.

Alex Pereira (right) evades Israel Adesanya’s jab during their Middleweight fight at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden on 12 November, 2022 in New York City. (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

“I’ve trained my whole life for this. I’ve worked so hard,” Pereira said.

A great rivalry is developing between the two fighters as, prior to the epic five-round battle on Sunday morning, Adesanya had never lost a fight in the middleweight division.

This is the third time Pereira has beaten Adesanya — more than any other fighter — although the other two wins (in 2016 and 2017) were in kickboxing.

“What’s the emotion? I’m grateful — what a life, what a moment,” Adesanya said after the gruelling fight.

The flurry of late punches thrown by Pereira had Adesanya wobbly and left him unable to defend himself, forcing the referee to end the fight.

Alex Pereira (right) battles Israel Adesanya during their Middleweight fight at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden on 12 November, 2022 in New York City. (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

“F—ing crazy ending. Similar to the last time, same story. It’s crazy. But yeah, I was fine. The first thing I said to Eugene [Bareman, his coach] or the ref was I was fine. I was lucid, I was in there. But yeah, s— happens. I talked to my coaches and I trust them [that the stoppage was legit], but I was fine. I could see everything, my eyes might have rolled back a little bit, but I was lucid,” said Adesanya.

“I’m grateful, I’m proud, my team’s proud of me,” he added. “Respectfully, f— all this s—, f— everybody else, it’s all about my team.”

The Last Stylebender had mounted five successful defences since unifying the middleweight title more than three years ago, but he was simply blitzed by Pereira on Sunday.

“I’ve been doing this, this is my third fight in 10 months,” Adesanya said.

Had Adesanya beaten Pereira, he would have equalled Anderson Silva’s long-held 13-fight win streak in the middleweight division.

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“Every time I fight, I risk losing what you guys deem as the prestigious — which it is — the belt and all that s—. But, I put it on the line because I’m not trying to just fight once and then chill, do my lap around and parade as the champion and not risk so much. So yeah, I put it on the line and this is what happens when you dare to be great. And I am.

 “He hit my peroneal nerve, so that’s why my footwork was compromised,” he revealed. “Even when I tripped and went backward, I had to do the roly-poly. Because I was like, ‘Oh s—, I just tripped over, it’s not like me.’ So, kudos to him for investing in those calf kicks because it cost me.

“It was just my leg, my leg gave away and it was really annoying,” Adesanya said. “But again, kudos to him because he invested in those. I did the same thing to him. His leg’s f—ed. But, he just got me better.

“It was hard for me to attack with my wrestling because I was compromised because of his investment with the calf kicks. Trust me, when I had him, I’m dangerous on the ground, people just don’t realise that. But, I was compromised early on.”

Women’s strawweight

There was another exchange of belts in the co-main event: Zhang Weili reclaimed the women’s strawweight championship with a submission win over champion Carla Esparza.

Weili Zhang (right) and Carla Esparza in action during their Women Strawweight fight UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden on 12 November, 2022 in New York City. (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The fighters exchanged fairly evenly in the opening round, while the second lasted just over a minute: Esparza shot for a takedown and managed to get Weili off her feet, with the challenger lying at the bottom after a scramble before laying in a modified arm-trapping rear-naked choke. DM

UFC 281 – Main card results:

• Main event: Middleweight championship: Alex Pereira def. Israel Adesanya via TKO (punches), R5, 2:01
• Co-main: Women’s strawweight championship: Zhang Weili def. Carla Esparza via submission (rear-naked choke), R2, 1:05
• Lightweight: Dustin Poirier def. Michael Chandler via submission (rear-naked choke), R3, 2:00
• Bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez def. Frankie Edgar via KO (knee), R1, 2:01
• Lightweight: Dan Hooker def. Claudio Puelles via TKO (body kick), R2, 4:06