Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira date: UK start time, full fight card, live stream and how to follow huge UFC 281 title clash at Madison Square Garden

Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight title against Alex Pereira in the headline clash to a stacked UFC 281 card tonight.

‘The Last Stylebender’ defended his world crown with a third consecutive decision win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 in July.

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The 33-year-old is among the best in the business and will be eager to cement that against an old foe.

Adesanya lost a professional kickboxing bout to Pereira back in 2017 and will want revenge.

Pereira knocked out Sean Strickland on the same card to Adesanya’s last fight and the Brazilian will be looking to make the most of his title shot.

Also on the card, Carla Esparza will put her strawweight title on the line against Zhang Weili while superstars Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler will also face off.

Adesanya vs Pereira: Date and how to follow

UFC 281 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 12 and is being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The prelim action will start at 11pm for UK fans with the main card getting underway from 1am on Sunday morning. Adesanya vs Pereira can then be expected at around 4am.

The action will be shown on BT Sport 2 with their coverage starting at 1am. Full details on how to follow the action will follow soon.

talkSPORT will also have all the build-up and reaction to the event throughout fight week.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

ou can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

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Adesanya vs Pereira: Fight card

Subject to change

Main card

• MAIN EVENT: Israel Adesanya (c) vs Alex Pereira - for UFC Middleweight Championship
• Carla Esparza (c) vs Zhang Weili - for UFC Women's Strawweight Championship
• Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler
• Frankie Edgar vs Chris Gutierrez
• Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles

Preliminary card

• Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano
• Dominick Reyes vs Ryan Spann
• Molly McCann vs Erin Blanchfield
• Andre Petroski vs Wellington Turman

Early preliminary card

• Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar
• Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Silvana Gomez Juarez
• Michael Trizano vs Choi Seung-woo
• Julio Arce vs Montel Jackson 
• Carlos Ulberg vs Nicolae Negumereanu 

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Adesanya vs Pereira: Weigh-in results

A relaxed Adesanya hit championship weight at 185 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in.

Pereira waited to the last minute to take to the scales but also made it at 184.6 pounds.

Elsewhere, Poirier weighed in at 156 while Chandler was slightly lighter at 155.8.

Adesanya vs Pereira: What has been said?

Israel Adesanya: “Without me, he wouldn’t be here. Without me, he would’ve been exposed a long time ago. I cleared the way.

“I cleared the division, so there was not really anyone else to fight. I cleared the way for him to get to the top.

“It’s personal. This is about me and my legacy.

“This is about re-writing history even though it is history and I never chased this.

“This is about me re-writing a new path in history and just showing people what I can really do, because, again, ya’ll must have forgot.

“This is personal. I’ve said less. He can do all the tennis ball videos and hoverboard but for me, I’m just like, ‘Cool, you do you.’ He has bragging rights, so let him do that, but yeah.”

Jared Cannonier: “It definitely favours Izzy more. 

“He’s been here longer. He’s had all these five-round championship fights with the best in our sport, so it’s definitely different. He definitely has the experience in that regard.

“He’s altered his kickboxing style more for MMA. Alex still has sort of a kickboxing base, his stance. 

“Not to say that it’s a detriment to him, but it can be exploited as far as MMA goes. 

“I think the advantage lies with Israel in that regard.

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“The power lies with Alex, for sure. They’re both the same size, you know, so Alex is going to be a denser opponent, so he’s probably a little bit heavier. 

“It’s definitely going to be an exciting fight.”