For years, Alex Pereira seemed to haunt Israel Adesanya . It was one thing when Pereira did it in kickboxing . It was another when he followed Adesanya to MMA and finished him with punches to win the UFC middleweight title. The stoppage, which was later disputed by Adesanya, came at 2:01 of Round 5. The victorious Pereira outing vs. Adesanya in MMA was in November 2022 at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York.