THE scorecards have finally been revealed for Israel Adesanya’s shock UFC defeat to Alex Pereira.
Middleweight champ Adesanya saw his dominant reign come to an end at New York’s Madison Square Garden last night.
SplashThe scorecards have been revealed by Alex Pereira’s KO win over Israel Adesanya[/caption]
@UFC TwitterThe scorecards showed Adesanya was winning before his shock defeat[/caption]
The ace was KO’d in the fifth round by his Brazilian opponent.
But the scorecards show Adesanya was on course to successfully defend his belt for the sixth time.
The Mirror claims all three judges at cage-side had identically scored the bout, with Adesanya leading 39-37, or by 3 rounds to 1.
And Adesanya was the easy victor in each round thanks to his mix of wrestling and striking.
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However, it all fell apart with just three minutes left when Pereira unleashed a flurry of blows on Adesanya, leading to the ref halting the fight.
It’s the second time he’s lost to Pereira, having been beaten in his final kickboxing bout five years ago.
But despite losing again, Adesanya admits he has been grateful for the ride as king of the middleweight division.
He said: “I’m grateful. What a life, what a moment, f***ing crazy, isn’t it? Similar to the last time, same story, it’s crazy.
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“I was fine, first thing I said to the ref was ‘I’m fine’ because I was still lucid, still in there and I was fine, but s*** happens.
“I talked to my coaches and I trust them, but I was fine, I could see everything that was happening. My eyes might have rolled into the back of my head a little bit but I was lucid.
“I’m grateful, I’m proud, my team’s proud of me and respectfully, f*** all this s***, f*** everybody else, it’s all about my team.
“This is my third fight in ten months, every time I fight I risk losing what you guys deem as a prestigious, which it is, the belt.
“But it is, I put it all on the line because I’m not trying to just fight once and then chill, do my lap around and parade as a champion and not risk so much.
“I put it all on the line and this is what happens. Dare to be great, and I am.”