UFC Heavyweight Champion Reacts to Israel Adesanya’s Brutal Knockout by Alex Pereira

• UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has reacted to Israel Adesanya's brutal TKO defeat by Alex Pereira on Sunday
• Adesanya failed to defend his UFC middleweight belt in the main event of UFC 281 against the Brazilian, who defeated him twice in kickboxing
• UFC 281 took place on at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York in the United States of America

It’s fair to say UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou wasn’t impressed with what he saw from the main event of UFC 281.

Alex Perreira defeated Israel Adesanya to become the UFC middleweight champion, and he did it via a brutal knockout.

Adesanya seemed to be well on his way to a victory over the Brazilian fighter on Sunday morning, but massive punches to Izzy's face in the fifth round saw the fight end in stunning fashion.

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Perreira plucked victory from the jaws of defeat and delivered a late TKO, recording another win in MMA over Adesanya to go with his two triumphs in kickboxing before the pair changed sports.

Nobody at Madison Square Garden could believe their eyes when they saw what happened. It was truly a shocking outcome, with reactions coming in from all over the place.

Fellow UFC fighter Ngannou took to Twitter with a message after Adesanya's loss:

"What a sad night," he tweeted along with a crying emoji.

Drake loses bet on Adesanya

Meanwhile, Drake has lost another bet worth $2 million, by backing Israel Adesanya to defeat Alex Pereira on Sunday morning, Sports Brief reported.

The Canadian musician has a long history of betting on UFC fights, including most recently tipping Nigerian fighter Kamaru Usman to succeed - which saw him lose around $200,000.

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Drake's first public bet in the American mixed martial arts space came back in March, where he staked an incredible £232,000 ($275,000) on Jorge Masvidal to beat Colby Covington.

Adesanya hoped to exact revenge

Adesanya hoped to exact revenge on Alex Pereira, when both MMA stars clashed at Madison Square Garden in the main event of UFC 281, Sports Brief had reported.

Adesanya was to defend his UFC middleweight belt against the Brazilian, who has an impeccable record against the Nigerian including two kickboxing defeats.

According to MMA Junkie, Adesanya had hoped to inflict as much pain on Pereira as possible, while also revealing the reason for his kickboxing losses to the Brazilian.