One year and six days after making his promotional debut in New York City, Pereira was back to challenge Adesanya for the middleweight title in the main event of the UFC’s annual trip to Madison Square Garden.
Through four rounds, the champion fought extremely well, avoiding Pereira’s power, landing at a great volume, and showing the form that made him such a dominant champion. Adesanya entered the fifth round with a 3-1 lead on all three scorecards and Pereira’s corner sensed their charge needed a finish, so former light heavyweight champ Glover Teixeira implored him to go out there and chase one down. Two minutes and one second later, the fight was over and Pereira was the champion. While people can take umbrage with the stoppage, the onslaught from the challenger was undeniable, and Pereira walked out with UFC gold slung over his shoulder.
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Saturday, July 29, 2023
UFC 291 — Delta Center
Five months after Pereira defeated Adesanya to claim the middleweight title, “The Last Stylebender” got his revenge at UFC 287 in Miami, knocking out the Brazilian to reclaim the throne and prompt Pereira to move up a weight class to the light heavyweight ranks.
Fighting at 205-pounds always seemed like the more logical weight class for Pereira. At light heavyweight, he was still big for the division, but there were questions about how his power would translate and how he would handle himself against bigger opponents that were going to look to take him off his feet. Paired off with former champ Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event of UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Pereira earned a hard-fought split decision win over the Polish veteran. It wasn’t the earth-shattering effort many were hoping for, but Blachowicz was a former champion who fought for the title seven months earlier and has only lost to Teixeira and Thiago Santos in the previous seven years.