UFC has two new champions! The Adesanya era is over, with 11 of his 14 fights ending before the limit. What did UFC 281 look like?

UFC 281 promised a great and attractive spectacle and that’s exactly what we got. Lots of early finishes, two title fights, beautiful bouts. What did the tournament look like?

Early Prelims and Prelims

There were some interesting fights at UFC 281 even before the main card. In addition, six of the first nine fights ended early. We saw the first ending in the first fight when Carlos Ulberg finished Nicolae Negumereanu in the first round.

The rare fight between Julio Arce and Montel Jackson ended on points. The latter clearly and deservedly dominated the bout. Another duel offered several interesting moments, with Michael Trizano winning the first round.

Trizano took on Seungwoo Choi. One of the most interesting moments in the bout was when both fighters sent each other down at the same time and scored a knockdown. However, both quickly got up to finish Trizano Choi afterwards.

After a long time, Polish star Karolina Kowalkiewicz returned to action as she took on Silvana Gomez Juarez. She deservedly won by unanimous points.

Right after that, we saw another first round finish. Matt Frevola sent Ottman Azaitar to dreamland.

Then Andre Petroski and Wellington Turman finished on points. The former won it by unanimous decision.

Then came another girl’s war and with it the first tightened submission of the whole tournament. Erin Blanchfield took care of it in the first round, forcing the increasingly popular British Molly McCann to tap out.

The last two matches before the main card were also ended early. Dominick Reyes unfortunately lost for the fourth time in a row. After a crushing elbow knockout from Jiri Prochazka, he now went to action for the first time and this time he was put to sleep by Ryan Spann.

It’s an uncomfortable situation for Reyes now. Not long ago he was unquestionably one of the best fighters in the welterweight division, he controversially lost to Jon Jones and since then his career has gone from strength to strength.

The prelims card was closed by Renato Moicano, who landed a rear-naked choke in the first round to drop Brad Riddel.

The main card

Hooker scores an important win, the sad end of a legend and a bloody war of the stars

The main card got a great opener. That’s because Dan Hooker, who has lost four of his last fights against top lightweights, and the upstart Peruvian Claudio Puelles went into action. The popular American was the slight favourite and he lived up to his billing.

The first round roughly indicated the tactics of both. Hooker tried to keep the fight standing, Puelles, on the other hand, pulled him down at all costs. However, it didn’t offer a very attractive spectacle because of the fight Puelles was in.

That second round was a different story. The American dismantled his opponent with great combinations, hitting the chin, adding hard punches and teep kicks to the ribs. Puelles kept going down, hoping Hooker would follow him to the ground. However, he didn’t heed the call once and eventually won the second round after just one of the teeps.

The second fight offered a farewell to a legend. Frankie Edgar announced that this match would be his last. That’s why he received a big welcome when he entered the cage. Unfortunately, his opponent in the octagon gave him the same. Chris Gutierrez didn’t wait for anything and ended the fight after two minutes with a great knee to the chin.

Edgar has lost six of his last eight fights. Now he’s down for the third time in a row. He ends his career with a record of 24-11-1.

Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler took the third fight of the main card. It was going to be a spectacle, and we got it. The former was the favourite, and in the end he got the win. But it wasn’t so easy.

Chandler flew into the first round wild and aggressive as usual. He hit Poirier in the ribs with hard kicks, but then he also hit his head hard. At times, Poirier looked like he had work to do. But he shook off the tough moments to deliver a crushing finish to the first round where he literally demolished Chandler’s face. Had the round been longer, the fight could have been stopped.

The second round was clearly Chandler’s. He quickly took the fight to the ground and checked him there, even considering the condition of his nose. The same was expected in the third round and Chandler actually tried to do the same, however Poirier was expecting it and turned the takedown attempt to his advantage. He got Chandler’s back and won for the first time in his career on a rear-naked choke.

The women have a (old) new champion again!

Carla Esparza became a bit of an unwanted champion when she defeated Rose Namajunas in one of the least attractive fights in UFC history. Her fights don’t entertain much so she can’t boast much popularity. That was evident before her first defense against Weili Zhang.

She was booed at the weigh-ins and Zhang, on the other hand, enjoyed the support. A win for her would have put the women’s strawweight division back in a state of flux. And so it will, as the cycle of champions continually taking turns on the throne is never ending.

Zhang had already held the title once and now she wanted to get back to it. And she did. She prepared hard for Esparza, especially her wrestling. It’s paid off. The Chinese fighter was clearly the better stand-up fighter and she didn’t let her opponent do anything on the ground.

The challenger was ready for all of Esparza’s strengths and even finished her off on a technically beautifully executed rear-naked choke. Esparza lost in the second round on a submission for only the second time in her career. So Zhang is the (old) new champion.

Adesanya’s dominance ended, Pereira found the strength to end it

Big story, big fight. Israel Adesanya as the dominant middleweight champion, however, now had a big challenge ahead of him. Alex Pereira had beaten him twice before moving to MMA in the GLORY organization. The first fight Adesanya lost controversially on points, in the second he was better until the Brazilian put him to sleep.

So the UFC was clear on what was going to happen to Pereira when they signed him. Getting him to fight Adesanya was a dream come true. And now we’re finally here. Two excellent stand-up fighters facing each other in the cage, with the reigning champion the favorite.

Adesanya scored the first round for himself. He almost ended the fight, but the Brazilian was saved by the bell. Pereira took the second round, but then Adesanya dominated. In the third round, he clearly outworked Pereira, peppering him with hard punches on the ground. The fourth round looked to be in the champion’s favour again, with the Brazilian looking extremely exhausted.

But then came the fifth round, and the exhausted Pereira found it in himself to finish Adesanya first. A cruel loss for Adesanya. He was the better, more technical fighter for most of the fight and confirmed his tremendous fight QI, but Pereira had the advantage in power and size, which ultimately played a major role.

So the middleweight division has a new champion and the question is what happens to it next. A rematch is definitely on the cards, as Adesanya has already chipped away at the entire division and has no competitor in it besides Pereira.

Source: UFC, Twitter