Israel Adesanya was brutally knocked out by Alex Pereira in their middleweight title fight at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
The fight was stopped by referee Mark Goddard after Pereira reigned a flurry of punches in the fifth round to become the new Champion.
Despite dominating the entire fight, Adesanya was cornered against the cage in the final round as Pereira landed several punches which wobbled the Nigerian before the referee intervened.
Izzy was leading on the judges scorecard by 3-1 but the Brazilian turned the game on its head after landing several punches that made his opponent drop his guard.
The last Style Bender had a bright start into the fight as his right and left punches rocked Poatan who was saved by the bell.
The second round was evenly matched while Izzy scored his first takedown as an MMA fighter in the third and had over two minutes of ground control to finish the round stronger.
Pereira looked tired in the fourth as Adesanya was in a more confident mood with a round left to fight.
However, the tables turned against the Nigerian as Pereira closed the distance and landed vicious punches to win his first title.in the UFC after just four fights since joining the organization.
A rematch could be on the cards for both fighters as suggested by UFC Hall of Famer and commentator Daniel Cormier.
Israel had suffered two defeats to Pereira in kickboxing and the New Zealand fighter could not silence the ghost of his past following a third defeat to the same opponent.
With defeat to Adesanya, there are no more Nigerian champions in the UFC roaster. Kamaru Usman’s reign as welterweight champion also ended after a fifth round knockout loss to Leon Edwards.
