By Daniyal Nasir Mirza
LAHORE: The most highly anticipated combat sports events of the year exceeded expectations as UFC 281 emanated live from Madison Square Garden in New York City and delivered a fighting event for the ages. The event was headlined by two championship fights and featured a fight of the year contender as well as a beloved legend’s last fight.
The main event saw lightning strike twice in the same place as Alex Periera eerily repeated history by defeating the now-former middleweight world champion Israel Adesanya. Both fighters had previously faced each other twice under kickboxing rules prior to this fight, with this being their first encounter under MMA rules. Israel Adesanya had never lost at middleweight in MMA, while Alex Periera had won both their kickboxing encounters making this an incredibly talked about and unique championship fight.
The fight played out to be a repeat of their second kickboxing fight in 2017. Both contests, five years apart, saw Adesanya dominate the majority of the fight only to be stopped by Periera in the closing moments of the contest. Israel Adesanya’s incredible championship reign ended at the hands of his long term rival, who now holds three victories over Adesanya. A rematch could be on the horizon between these two juggernauts, as UFC president Dana White confirmed he would be interested in booking a second fight, owing to Adesanya’s incredible championship reign.
The co-main event of the evening saw Weili Zhang become the UFC strawweight champion for a second time in her career by defeating Carla Esparza in the second round. The Chinese superstar secured the win with a perfectly executed rear naked choke submission inside the second round. This fight could potentially set up a third meeting between the new champion and former champion Rose Namajunas. Rose lost the title in May to Carla Esparza in an underwhelming championship fight. Rose has an excellent case to face the new champion, as she is currently ranked at #1 in the female strawweight rankings and has two wins over Weili Zhang in April and November of 2021.
Dustin Porier and Michael Chandler were heavily touted to have a fight of the year contender and over delivered with an extremely back and forth contest that saw Porier defeat Chandler with a rear naked choke in the second round. The momentum shifted several times with both fighters presumably winning a round each heading into the third and final round. Dustin Porier used his world class jiu jitsu skills to finish the fight and hand the former Bellator world champion his third loss in the UFC.
UFC legend Frankie Edgar lost his retirement fight against Chris Guiterrez by a brutal knockout inside the first round. Having competed in the UFC since his sixth professional fight, this fight marked the end for the UFC legends fifteen year long run with the organization. Frankie Edgar’s illustrious career saw him capture the UFC lightweight championship and contend for the UFC featherweight championship on three different occasions
In the preliminary fights, Israel Adesanya’s City Kickboxing teammate Brad Riddel lost to Renato Moicano in an exciting fight. Team City Kickboxing, known for their high level striking, left with two wins and two losses by the end of the night with Dan Hooker and Carlos Ulberg securing two important wins despite losing the main event.
Ryan “Superman” Spann defeated former title challenger Dominick Reyes with a vicious power jab knockout within the first round. Spann came through the Dana White Contender Series and secured his 7th win in the UFC over Reyes. Dominick Reyes, once in the title conversation, suffered his fourth loss in a row.
Erin Blanchfield outclassed Molly McCann in a high profile preliminary bout. Blanchfield, ranked 12th in the UFC Women’s Flyweight division, was the lesser known fighter between the two. Molly “Meatball” McCann rose to fame with two successive spinning back elbow finishes in her last two fights, catching the attention of personalities such as Dwayne Johnson, Conor McGregor and Dave Portnoy. Erin Blanchfield entered the radar of the public thanks to this high profile win and has positioned herself well to potentially challenge for the UFC flyweight championship.
Matt Frevola knocked out Ottman Azaitar in the featured early prelims bout with a vicious left hook counter. This knockout officially ended Ottman’s 13 fight undefeated streak, handing the German-Moroccan fighter his first loss ever in MMA competition.
UFC 281 was the organization’s 27th sold-out event. As the popularity of the sport of MMA continues to rise, the UFC continues to deliver beyond expectations with each featured event. The next pay-per-view event will feature a UFC light heavyweight world championship fight between Jiri Prochazkha and Glover Teixeira in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Daniyal Nasir Mirza is a podcaster, analyst and ring announcer covering combat sports in Pakistan.
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