Grudges, defiance and unbridled violence are at the heart of UFC 281 on Saturday night. UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira headlines the pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza vs. Zhang Weili and Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler are among the other standout fights on the undercard.
Adesanya faces an irregular degree of consumer doubt heading into his sixth UFC middleweight title defense. That is because Pereira, who challenges for the title in just his fourth UFC fightholds two victories over Adesanya in the kickboxing circuit. Pereira is also the only person in combat sports to knock out Adesanya. The champion has the opportunity to up his body count and avenge the last loss on his kickboxing record.
CBS Sports will be with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 281 below. The main card begins at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV following preliminary bouts at 6:30 p.m. ET.
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)