Israel Adesanya has defeated Alex Pereira to reclaim the UFC middleweight belt title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 287.

The Nigerian-born mixed martial artist knocked out the Brazilian in the fourth minute of the second round of the bout in the early hours of Sunday at the FTX Arena, Miami, Florida. The victory is Adesanya’s first-ever win over Pereira who unseated him and took the belt off him with a vicious fifth-round knockout in November 2022. The Brazilian had also defeated him twice before that fight at the Maddison Square Garden in New York.

However, in their latest bout, Adesanya demonstrated an improvement in his discipline which had previously cost him against Pereira. He had a laser-like focus throughout the entire blurry exchanges of kicks and jabs.

At the end of the fight, Adesanya said he was “playing possum” against the fence, waiting for a moment to strike. And when he struck, did he strike. It was a clean right hook from nowhere, and it stunned Pereira still. The next shot was another right hook to put down Pereira. One hammer fist, and the fight was waved off, but Pereira was already out cold after the second hook. In the end, Adesanya made good on what was likely his last chance to beat Pereira and improved his MMA fight record to 24-2 (13-2 UFC), while Pereira (7-2 MMA) suffered his first loss in the UFC (4-1 UFC). The win over Pereira is Adesanya’s 24th in his career in mixed martial arts (MMA) and he had suffered just two losses.