Alex Pereira Makes Weight for Israel Adesanya UFC 281 Main Event After Late Cut
Tim Daniels@@TimDanielsBR
Featured Columnist IVNovember 11, 2022
After a little drama, Alex Pereira made weight Friday at 184.6 pounds to make his UFC middleweight championship fight against title-holder Israel Adesanya official.
Pereira didn't show up to the scale until close to the deadline, which briefly raised questions about whether there was a weight-cut issue ahead of the UFC 281 main event Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
UFC @ufcWe have ourselves a main event!!<br><br>Alex Pereira makes 184.6lbs for our middleweight title fight <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UFC281?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UFC281</a> | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: <a href="https://t.co/nzONUJMdiS">https://t.co/nzONUJMdiS</a> <a href="https://t.co/J3QaakqZ45">pic.twitter.com/J3QaakqZ45</a>
The New York Commission told MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn that Pereira would have received a two-hour extension if he missed weight on the original attempt since it's a championship fight. That's now a moot point.
Adesanya (23-1, 15 KOs) also made weight at 185 pounds.
Pereira, a former two-division kickboxing champion, has rapidly climbed the UFC rankings since making his Octagon debut last November.
He's 3-0, earning Performance of the Night honors for knockout victories over Andreas Michailidis and Sean Strickland. His other win came over Bruno Silva by unanimous decision.
Now he's in line for a shot at Adesanya's title, though it isn't their first meeting. A 2017 kickboxing matchup ended with a Pereira win by third-round knockout.
"It's still there, for sure," Pereira told reporters Wednesday. "I don't know how it's going to be or how he could possibly erase that from his mind, but I know it's still there."
They also faced off in 2016, a unanimous decision in favor of Pereira.
The UFC middleweight champion doesn't think those prior battles will have any impact on Saturday's clash.
"This fight doesn't bother me in a sense like, 'What's the worst thing that can happen? He's going to knock me out?'" Adesanya told ESPN's Marc Raimondi. "Bro, just go on YouTube. You can look at it. That frees me in a lot of sense. I'm like all right, the worst has already happened. Now, I just have to go out there and f--k this guy up."
The 33-year-old Nigerian has held the middleweight belt since April 2019, and his only career loss came after moving to light heavyweight to face Jan Błachowicz, as he came up short in his pursuit of becoming a two-division champion.
Saturday's main card is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
