UFC 281 full results: Alex Pereira TKOs Israel Adesanya; Zhang Weili submits Carla Esparza

Israel Adesanya was knocked out in his second kickboxing fight by Alex Pereira despite controlling most of the bout until the finish. On Saturday in the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden, history repeated itself. Adesanya was controlling the fight, hurt Pereira twice and was seemingly on the way to a decision victory.

Then, out of nowhere, the hard-hitting Pereira cracked Adesanya with a combo and the course of UFC history was changed. The first right hand hurt Adesanya and froze him against the cage. Pereira poured it on and got the finish at 2:01 of the final round. [Read more.]

In the co-main event, Zhang Weili’s athleticism was on display from the early moments of her strawweight title fight with Carla Esparza. She was too quick, too strong and, ultimately, too good for Esparza, who tried to use her wrestling skills but to no avail. She locked in the second-round submission of Esparza after a brilliant display of high level mixed martial arts to reclaim the championship belt.

In an instant classic, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler fought a bloody back-and-forth battle that ended when Poirier locked in a rear naked choke in the third round.

Frankie Edgar’s legendary UFC career came to a violent end as Chris Gutierrez put the former champion to sleep with a brutal leaping knee to the chin in the first round. Edgar hadn’t landed anything of note as he looked for an opening. Gutierrez leapt with a knee and caught him on the chin and like that, it was over instantly. Edgar ends his career with a 24-11-1 record while Gutierrez improves his to 19-3-2.

In the main card opener, Dan Hooker ended his two-fight skid with a second-round TKO of Claudio Puelles, who was mostly trying to grapple the 6-footer from New Zealand. Hooker fought out of Puelles’ submission attempts in the first round and ended the fight with multiple teep kicks that put Puelles on the mat and forced referee Keith Peterson to call off the fight.

UFC 281 main card results, highlights

• Middleweight: Alex Pereira def. Israel Adesanya by TKO (punches) at 2:01 of R5:

• Strawweight: Zhang Weili def. Carla Esparza by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:02 of R2:

• Lightweight: Dustin Poirier def. Michael Chandler by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:00 of R3:

• Bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez def. Frankie Edgar by KO (knee) at 2:01 of R1:

• Lightweight: Dan Hooker def. Claudio Puelles by TKO (kick) at 4:06 of R2:

UFC 281 preliminary card results, highlights

• Lightweight: Renato Moicano def. Brad Riddell by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:20 of R1:

• Catchweight (206.6 lb): Ryan Spann def. Dominick Reyes by KO (punch) at 1:20 of R1:

• Flyweight: Erin Blanchfield def. Molly McCann by submission (kimura) at 3:37 of R1:

• Middleweight: Andre Petroski def. Wellington Turman by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

UFC 281 early preliminary card results, highlights

• Lightweight: Matt Frevola def. Ottman Azaitar by KO (punches) at 2:30 of R1:

• Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Silvana Gómez Juárez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

• Catchweight (147.6 lb): Michael Trizano def. Choi Seung-woo by KO (punches) at 4:51 of R1:

• Bantamweight: Montel Jackson def. Julio Arce by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

• Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg def. Nicolae Negumereanu by TKO (punches) at 3:44 of R1: