Israel Adesanya will try to tie Anderson Silva’s record for consecutive middleweight wins with 13 when he targets the sixth defense of his 185-pound championship at UFC 281 on Saturday, Nov. 12.
Main Card
- Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles – Lightweight bout
- Frankie Edgar vs Chris Gutierrez – Bantamweight bout
- Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler – Lightweight bout
- Carla Esparza (c) vs Weili Zhang – Co-Main Event UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship bout
- Israel Adesanya (c) vs Alex Pereira – Main Event UFC Middleweight Championship bout
Early Prelims
- Carlos Ulberg vs Nicolae Negumereanu – Light Heavyweight bout
- Julio Arce vs Montel Jackson – Bantamweight bout
- Michael Trizano vs Seungwoo Choi – Featherweight bout
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Silvana Gomez Juarez – Women’s Strawweight bout
- Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar – Lightweight bout
Prelims
- Andre Petroski vs Wellington Turman – Middleweight bout
- Erin Blanchfield vs Molly McCann – Women’s Flyweight bout
- Dominick Reyes vs Ryan Spann – Light Heavyweight bout
Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano – Lightweight bout
Where to watch UFC 281?
The preliminaries of UFC 281 can be seen on ESPN for all of Latin America, except Argentina, Mexico and Chile, where Fox Sports will broadcast the fights. Star Battles to Be Seen Exclusively on Star Plus.
How to Watch
- Event: UFC 281
- Date: Saturday, 22nd November
- Start Time: 10 pm ET
- Live Stream: Watch UFC 281 Live Here
Where can I watch live stream UFC 281?
How you can actually watch the UFC 281 event all depends on where you are based in the world.
Fans in the United Kingdom will be able to watch all of the Prelims and Early Prelims action via the UFC FIGHT PASS subscription service.
Fight Pass is the over-the-top streaming service from the biggest promotion in mixed martial arts, offering fans access to every Early Prelims and Prelims event during the year.
As well as the live events, Fight Pass also has a huge amount of classic content featuring some of the biggest names in the game like Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
How to watch UFC 281 in the UK and Australia
UFC 281 back to normal at a bad time in the U.K., and a good time of day down under.
In the U.K., you’ll likely start Adesanya vs. Pereira at approximately 5 a.m. GMT. It’s live on BT Sport Box Office(opens in new tab), where it costs £19.95. Prelims are on UFC Fight Pass.
Just a heads up, though, the UFC 281 live stream is not available via a web browser, but through apps on Now TV devices, PlayStations, Xbox, Apple TV and some Smart TVs.
In Australia, UFC 281 is live on Sunday at 5 a.m. AEDT on Kayo(opens in new tab), where it costs AU$54.95.
UFC 281 live streams: Get the PPV and a whole year of ESPN Plus
You’re going to need ESPN Plus(opens in new tab) to watch UFC 281 live streams — and all the upcoming numbered UFC PPVS — so let’s talk about the best deal to make this happen.
You can get UFC 281 plus a year of ESPN Plus for $124.98, which is savings of $50 (ESPN Plus costs $99.99 per year and UFC 281 costs $74.99).
The main prelim fights are on ESPNEWS, so those who haven’t subscribed to the latter yet can get a taste of it all for themselves, before forking out the cash.
ESPNEWS is available on most cable packages, as well as two of the best streaming services: namely Sling TV (Orange + Sports Extra) and FuboTV.
UFC 281 Early Prelim fights start at 6 p.m. ET on UFC FightPass(opens in new tab), which is $9.99 per month. Then, the higher-up set of prelim fights that start at 8 p.m. ET, on ESPNEWS.
How to watch UFC 281 live streams in Canada
Our neighbors in the great white north will watch the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, while the prelims are on TSN and RDS. UFC 281’s main card is available on various providers, including BELL and Rogers.
However, his opponent will be an acquaintance in the undefeated (in the octagon) Alex Pereira. Before Adesanya made his mark in the UFC, he suffered a pair of losses to Pereira in kickboxing, including one by knockout. And now that Pereira has appeared in the UFC and acclimated to mixed martial arts, he will look to defeat “The Last Stylebender” for a third time when he challenges him in the main event.
Since losing to Pereira at Glory of Heroes in 2017, Adesanya has had a stellar MMA career with 23 wins and just one loss, when he tried to move up in weight and fell short of Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. But now his worst nightmare is back.
Pereira lost his professional MMA debut in 2015 but has since won six fights in a row, including his first three fights in the UFC. He punched his ticket for a title shot when he brutally stopped Sean Strickland in July. And now he has a chance to end Adesanya’s title race.
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira LIVE
Israel Adesanya has finally found his partner.
For the first time in his MMA career, Adesanya will not enter the octagon as the top striker his opponent will have to decipher. Instead, he will be standing on the other side of the cage in front of a familiar enemy who is just as devastating, if not more so, in the punching department and will put the champion in awkward positions from the beginning of the fight.
This is an inherited fight for Adesanya, one that will define her career. The UFC middleweight champion is aware of this, along with the fact that he is 0-2 against the Brazilian. The way he will be remembered is heavily anchored in the outcome of the fight.
For those who have complained that Adesanya fights safely, it is very likely that “The Last Stylebender” will be forced out of its shell against its nemesis. Unlike previous opponents, Pereira’s aggression, kickboxing discipline and fluency will not allow Adesanya to sit down and choose his places. For much of his UFC career, he has had the luxury of being the most astute hitter and resting on his precise counters to dissect his opponents. And if your opponents refuse to participate, you’re perfectly fine to make a decision. If they compromise too much, Adesanya will lead them to a counterattack that will end the fight.
Pereira is different.
Due to his praised punch and pedigree, Pereira will not tire so much of participating and will force the champion to counterattack for the duration of the battle. It’s almost as if Adesanya is looking in the mirror at a more violent version of himself.
Not to mention, Pereira has a knockout victory over him.
But the key here is how much Adesanya has improved since suffering that knockout loss, the only one of his career, nearly six years ago. At 33, Adesanya is at his physical best and has already shown significant growth as a mixed martial artist during his nearly five years in the UFC.
Pereira has been an absolute demolition machine during his brief time as a mixed martial artist and is probably aware that he is being accelerated to the top because of his history with Adesanya. But Adesanya was also left without opponents.
If Pereira makes the mistake of thinking that Adesanya is the same person he knocked out, he will have a harsh awakening. This outraged version of Adesanya will fight for her life, but that’s when she’s at her best.
This may steal Fight of the Night’s honors when all is said and done, considering the violent nature of Adesanya and Pereira’s standup. The difference will be pure perseverance, as Adesanya has fought 25 minutes seven times in his MMA career, while Pereira still has five rounds.
Adesanya is a master at making his opponents pay for their mistakes and as the fight progresses, he will find more opportunities the deeper the fight. Pereira is too confident to back down and will end up on the wrong side of a violent exchange somewhere in the middle rounds when Adesanya avenges his only knockout defeat by defeating his rival in ways that seal the legacy.
