UFC 281 Preview
The UFC is returning to Madison Square Garden in New York City for UFC 281. The main event will be a middleweight fight five years in the making. Champion Israel Adesanya will defend his title against the only man to finish him in combat sports, #4 Alex Pereira.
It only took Pereira three fights in the UFC to gain a title shot after quickly finishing Sean Strickland by KO in July at UFC 276. The 35-year-old Brazilian is 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing and in their last fight he KO’d the champion in the third round with a devastating left hook.
While many pundits believe Pereira’s rise to a title shot happened quicker than it should have, the built-in storyline of his KO on Adesanya made it the most intriguing matchup for the next title fight. Pereira believes the loss is still on Adesanya’s mind. “It’s still there, for sure,” Pereira said. “I don’t know how it’s going to be or how he could possibly erase that from his mind, but I know it’s still there.”
Pereira is out to prove that he will also have the edge in MMA as well. “I’m going to show people that I’ve been training MMA for a while and how dangerous I can be in MMA,” he said.
The challenger believes he is better than Adesanya regardless of what type of fight happens on Saturday. “We’ve both evolved a lot, but I think I have the edge in kickboxing, because I’ve evolved a lot after the fight,” he said. “People want to say, ‘Oh, but now this is an MMA fight.’ But many people think this is going to be a kickboxing fight inside an octagon. So with that said, who do you think is going to have the edge? Me, who kept doing kickboxing for all those years, or him, who stopped training kickboxing?”
Should Pereira win, booking a fourth fight with Adesanya would be the logical choice. If Pereira wins in dominant fashion, does the UFC still book an immediate rematch? Pereira does not think so. “He does deserve that, but I think if they come and ask him after that for a rematch, I don’t think he wants that,” Pereira said.
Adesanya is looking to defend the middleweight title for the sixth time. He most recently defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision at UFC 276 in July. His only MMA loss came in 2021 when he moved up in weight to light heavyweight and attempted to become a two-weight world champion, but he was defeated by then title holder Jan Blachowicz via unanimous decision.
The 33-year-old has embraced the history he has with Pereira and what it means to his mental state leading up to the fight. “I like the pressure on me,” Adesanya said. “I like it on me in this one. I saw last night, I’m like, ‘Why am I the favorite in this on the betting odds?’ I never check them but I just happened to see something on Instagram and I was like, ‘How the f*ck am I the favorite?’ I feel like we should change that. How do we change that or something, fake an injury? I don’t know. We’ll see. I think we should bet on him this fight. Yeah, we’ll just see what happens.”
The champion has commented on the two losses to Pereira. “We’ve dusted that off, we’ve cut it off, and I can see what I did wrong,” Adesanya said. “So, it’s not gonna be like last time. This is a different fighter you’re facing, and now I’ve become another fighter. I’ve re-birthed myself. I’ve re-birthed it, and I just feel like I want to have fun. That’s the goal. But this fight, I’m gonna have fun. That’s the ultimate goal. And when I have fun, I’m the best in the world.”
Does Adesanya think Pereira will be his toughest title defense? “No, I don’t think [he presents the toughest challenge],” Adesanya told ESPN. “He’s very one-dimensional. He’s early on in this game as well so I’m even glad to get him now. I don’t know who he has in his corner. I know he has Glover [Teixeira] and his boxing coach. I don’t know what their background is, I don’t really mind, I just worry about me. I definitely know he’s not as smart as me in the cage. I know that for a fact.”
“The Last Stylebender” has been one of the most successful UFC champions in recent years, but he is not motivated by staying champion in this fight. “Beating him, that’s what matters,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Like, the belt? F*ck the belt. Just beating him, a killer like him, that’s what matters.”
Aside from Cannonier, the champion has key wins over Robert Whittaker (twice), Marvin Vettori (twice), Paulo Costa, Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum, Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares.
If Adesanya defeats Pereira there will be few new challenges at middleweight, so perhaps we may see him move back up in weight. He must first get by his storied rival, but if he loses on Saturday, we could have a thrilling fourth fight on our hands.
The co-main event at UFC 281 will be for the women’s strawweight title between champion Carla Esparza and former champion #2 Zhang Weili. Esparza is a two-time champion but is looking for her first successful title defense. She has won six straight fights and won the title in her last fight with a split decision victory over Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 in May.
Despite her success, Esparza is often seen by the MMA community as the underdog including in this title defense. The champion is not letting it phase her. “It is funny,” Esparza said. “Before, I would say early in my career it would kind of bum me out like ‘hey, I’m a good fighter!’ But now it just makes me smile and laugh. Like I know that I have a little secret but people [say] this is going to happen or that is going to happen and I’m just like OK but deep down I have my secret like you’ll see.”
She continued, “But I don’t need to talk about it. That’s been the style of my coach and my team since I’ve been there. Do your talking in the cage. I don’t need to tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to show you.”
The 35-year-old knows what type of challenge Zhang represents. “I have done my studying and I have seen holes and things I can take advantage of,” Esparza said about Zhang. “But at the end of the day, at this level and being a former champ, everyone’s going to be really good. I think it’s because she’s so dangerous and she comes out really strong that she has had these explosive first-round finishes. I’m definitely not looking past how dangerous she is and her knockout power and how strong she is because I think that’s obvious to see.”
Esparza went on to say, “But I’m pretty strong myself or else I wouldn’t be here at this point. I go into every fight that the possibility [is there], it’s a dangerous sport. It’s the hurt business. I go in there and prepare the best I can and let the cards fall where they may.”
The champion is confident heading into Saturday and has added motivation for this title defense. “I don’t think Weili has ever fought anyone like me. She’s never had this type of fight and I think she’s even said that in interviews. We’ll see how she reacts because I’ve never seen her go against someone like me so I don’t know how good she is there. It’s not easy fighting someone completely different than you have seen before.”
“It’s always great to win but to silence all the doubters, there’s a little bit of extra satisfaction to that,” Esparza said. “Unfortunately or fortunately, it’s something I’ve gotten to do a lot in my career.
“I’m a betting underdog usually and my friends and family have thanked me because I’ve won them a lot of money in the past. It is what it is. I definitely don’t mind being the underdog.”
Zhang is coming off a highlight reel knockout of Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a rematch at UFC 275 in June. The win was a much-needed rebound after losing two straight to Rose Namajunas in title fights. The 33-year-old will be challenging for the title a third time after becoming champion in 2019 and defending the belt once against Jędrzejczyk in their first fight.
The former champion is confident she has the skills to counter Esparza’s grappling ability. “Each one of my fights are gonna be a very exciting fight and I don’t fear if we wrestle or grapple,” Zhang said. “So, I don’t fear anything from Carla Esparza.
“I think her previous opponents — the mistake they made is that they get trapt by Carla, getting in her fighting rhythm,” she concluded. “So what I’m gonna do Saturday night is I’m not going to get trapt by her, I’m going to set up some traps for her.”
Aside from Jędrzejczyk, Zhang has key wins over Jessica Andrade, Tecia Torres and Jessica Aguilar. If she wins what is next for the strawweight title picture? There could be third fight with Namajunas or does the UFC give Esparza a rematch? #3 Amanda Lemos just had an impressive TKO victory on November 5th and represents a new title challenger in the division we have not seen yet. However, both fighters on Saturday have a great case for staying at the top of the title conversation.
The rest of the main card:
Lightweight - #2 Dustin Poiriervs. #5 Michael Chandler
Bantamweight - #12 Frankie Edgar vs. Chris Gutiérrez
Lightweight - #12 Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles
ESPN + Prelims:
Lightweight - Brad Riddell vs. Renato Moicano
Light Heavyweight - #7 Dominick Reyes vs. #12 Ryan Spann
Women's Flyweight - #15 Molly McCann vs. #12 Erin Blanchfield
Middleweight - Andre Petroskivs. Wellington Turman
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Lightweight - Matt Frevola vs. OttmanAzaitar
Women's Strawweight - Karolina Kowalkiewiczvs. Silvana Gómez Juárez
Featherweight - Michael Trizano vs. Choi Seung-woo
Bantamweight - Julio Arce vs. Montel Jackson
Light Heavyweight - Carlos Ulberg vs. Nicolae Negumereanu
