Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will resume their longstanding rivalry when they face off for the undisputed middleweight title at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida.
The event, which will take place at the Miami-Dade Arena on Saturday, April 8, will feature the second MMA clash between the pair in the main event, with a packed card of bouts providing strong support as the UFC returns to the state that helped bring the promotion back to arena shows during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The stat line shows that Pereira is 3-0 against Adesanya across two kickboxing matches and one MMA bout, but the scoreline doesn’t tell the full story of their competitive rivalry.
Adesanya looked good and appeared to be on top in both of the last two matchups before Pereira found a home for his thunderous punches and eventually stopped “The Last Stylebender”.
Now, after suffering only his second defeat as an MMA fighter – and his first as a middleweight – Adesanya is back for the rematch as he looks to exact revenge on his old rival and recapture the UFC 185-pound title in the process.
Pereira, meanwhile, will be looking to solidify his position at the top of the middleweight division after a meteoric rise that saw him earn an expedited title shot due to his kickboxing rivalry with Adesanya.
But any thoughts of the opportunity coming too early were wiped out when Pereira stopped Adesanya with strikes in the final round of their title clash at UFC 281 in November 2022.
Now “Poatan” stands tall as the champion at middleweight, and the intimidating striker plans on turning back the challenge of Adesanya and registering his first title defense.
Joining them on a packed fight card is a welterweight clash between fellow crowd-pleasers Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal, while bantamweights Rob Font and Adrian Yanez are also set to face off.
Santiago Ponzinibbio and Kevin Holland will go head to head at welterweight, while rising bantamweight star Raul Rosas Jr. will look to register his second win in the UFC when he takes on Christian Rodriguez.
UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 – Confirmed fights
- Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya – for middleweight title
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Rob Font vs. Adrian Yanez
- Kevin Holland vs. Santiago Ponzibbio
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Christian Rodriguez
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Chris Curtis
- Michael Chiesa vs. Li Jingliang
- Michelle Waterson vs. Luana Pinheiro
- Chris Barnett vs. Chase Sherman
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Joe Pyfer
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Loopy Godinez
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Nikolas Motta
- Shaylian Nuerdanbieke vs. Steve Garcia
- Jaqueline Amorim vs. Sam Hughes