There’s a new king of the 185-pound jungle. After four rounds of mostly one-way action, Alex Pereira pulled off the shocking upset over reigning champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UC 281 by scoring the fifth-round TKO.
In just his sixth pro MMA fight, Pereira, who holds two wins over Adesanya in pro kickboxing, scored successive punches in the waning moments of the final round that rocked the champion before the continued punishment became too much for the referee to allow to continue.
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CBS Sports was be with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 281 below.
UFC 281 card and results
- Alex Pereira def. Israel Adesanya (c) via fifth-round TKO (punches)
- Weili Zhang def. Carla Esparza (c) via second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- Dustin Poirier def. Michael Chandler via third-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- Chris Gutierrez def. Frankie Edgar via first-round knockout (knee)
- Dan Hooker def. Claudio Puelles via second-round knockout (body kick)
- Renato Moicano def. Brad Riddell via first-round submission (rear naked choke)
- Ryan Spann def. Dominick Reyes via first-round knockout (punch)
- Erin Blanchfield def. Molly McCann via first-round submission (kimura)
- Andre Petroski def. Wellington Turman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Matt Frevola def. Ottman Azaitar via first-round knockout (punch)
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Silvana Gomez Juarez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Michael Trizano def. Choi Seung-woo via first-round TKO (punches)
- Montel Jackson def. Julio Arce via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Carlos Ulberg def. Nicolae Negumereanu via first-round TKO (punches)