UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira Highlights

In the main event, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) puts his title on the line against challenger Alex Pereira (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who holds two kickboxing wins over him. In the co-feature, women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) defends the belt for the first time in her second stint as champ against former titleholder Zhang Weili (22-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who is a 4-1 favorite to reclaim the title. In addition, former Bellator champ Michael Chandler (23-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC) takes on former UFC interim titleholder Dustin Poirier (28-7 MMA, 20-6 UFC) in a key lightweight bout and former 155-pound champ Frankie Edgar (24-10-1 MMA, 18-10-1 UFC) fights for what is expected to be the final time when he meets Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2 MMA, 6-1-1 UFC) at bantamweight.

Follow along with our round-by-round updates and official results beginning at approximately 6 p.m. ET for the early prelims on ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET for the prelims on ESPNews and 10 p.m. ET for the main card on pay-per-view.

Adesanya is a -230 favorite (risk $230 to win $100), while Pereira comes back at +190 in the latest Caesars Sportsbook MMA odds for UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira. In the co-main event, women's strawweight champion Carla Esparza (+280) defends her belt against former champion Zhang Weili (-360). Before settling any selections of your own for UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira, make sure you check out the MMA predictions and betting advice from SportsLine expert Kyle Marley.  

Marley won the first-ever "ToutMaster" UFC betting contest sponsored by MMAOddsBreaker and appears regularly on multiple MMA betting and daily Fantasy shows. He watches every single fight for every professional MMA card and does extensive research before each event.

Over the past three-plus years, $100 bettors who have followed Marley's picks are up more than $13,000. The accomplished MMA analyst kicked off the 2022 UFC season in January by advising SportsLine members to back Calvin Kattar (+200) against Giga Chikadze (-240) in the featherweight main event. Kattar's lopsided unanimous-decision victory gave Marley's followers another easy winner. Anyone who has followed him is way up.

Israel Adesanya Defeats Jared Cannonier to Retain Championship at UFC 276

Returning to Las Vegas for its 10th annual International Fight Week, the UFC put together a stacked fight card for UFC 276 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Headlining the event were the championship bouts between Middleweights Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier, and Featherweights Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Amidst growing animosity between champion Adesanya and challenger Cannonier, the two faced off in a five-round bout that ended up going the distance.

Cannonier came on strong and determined throughout the fight, but could not get past the champion’s striking and takedown defense. Ultimately, Adesanya held off the challenger to pull off a Unanimous Decision victory (49–46, 49–46, 50–45) to retain his title after five rounds. Earlier in the night Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway stepped into the Octagon for the third time, with Holloway looking to secure the Featherweight title from the Australian champion once again. Despite competitive rounds between the two, Volkanovski was too fast for the Hawaiian challenger. Landing substantially more and holding him at bay for five rounds for the Unanimous Decision victory (50–45, 50–45, 50–45). Before the main events, Middleweight Championship hopefuls Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland went up against one another, with the rising Pereira landing a knockout victory in the very first round. While Welterweight Bryan Barberena defeated MMA veteran Robbie Lawler via TKO in the second round and the Bantamweight fight between Pedro Munhoz and Sean O’Malley saw a No Contest end due to an accidental eye poke by O’Malley.