Recall that the Nigerian UFC fighter wanted to emulate Floyd Mayweather’s strategy for decisive fights when he faced veteran opponent Pereira.

But this could not happen after he was knocked out at the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) 281.

Adesanya seeks revenge for losing two kickboxing matches to Pereira in 2016 and 2017.

The Last Stylebender returned to the Octagon for his most significant middleweight title defence to date.

The 33-year-old Adesanya began the fight cautiously, as he always does, but by the end of the first round, he had swayed Pereira to respect his strength.

Recall that Adesanya had previously met Pereira twice while fighting in kickboxing, with the Brazilian winning both contests. Only one fighter, Pereira, has triumphed against the Nigerian, and that was in a rematch in 2018.

Just before the first round ended, Adesanya delivered the devastating blow that knocked Pereira to the ground, but it was too late.

In the second round, Pereira outclassed Adesanya and successfully executed the takedown to tie the judges’ scores.

Adesanya loses the UFC middleweight championship to Pereira, effectively ending Nigeria’s reign of champions, as did Kamaru Usman.