On April 8th, the Ultimate Fighting Championship put on UFC 287 in Miami, with the highly anticipated rematch between former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and current champion Alex Periera headlining the show. This was the promotion’s first show in Miami since UFC 43 in April 2003 and it was quite the show.

The main show had five fights, it was originally supposed to be six before the heavyweight fight between Chris Barnett and Chase Sherman was canceled due to Barnett pulling out for undisclosed reasons and his replacement Karl Williams being medically unable to compete. Christian Rodriguez and Raul Rosas Jr clashed in a catchweight bout that saw Rodriguez take the win by unanimous decision. However, Rodriguez was fined 20% of his purse for weighing one pound over the limit for non title bantamweight fights. Welterweights Kevin Holland and Santiago Ponzinibbio also duked it out until a left hook from Holland sent “The Argentine Dagger” Ponzinibbo to the ground for a KO win in the third round. 

The fight between Bantamweights Rob Font and Adrian Yanez only went on for two minutes and 57 seconds in the first round as Font rushed Yanez and delivered a flurry of punches that got him a TKO win, breaking Yanez’s nine fight win streak. The fight between “Gamebred” Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns in a Welterweight bout that received lots of anticipation as Masvidal was fighting in his hometown of Miami. The two went the distance until Burns was declared winner by unanimous decision. After the fight, Masvidal announced his surprise retirement from MMA. This ended an eventful career that saw intense feuds, crazy fights, and the fastest KO in UFC history when he kneed Ben Askren in the skull in 2019. Burns demanded a shot at the Welterweight Championship in a post fight interview, presumably after the anticipated bout between current champion Leon Edwards and Colby Covington which is expected to take place over the summer.

The anticipated main event between Israel Adesanya and Alex Periera closed the night. The two had battled three times previously, twice in kickboxing and once in MMA with Periera winning each time. Their previous fight late last year saw Periera take the UFC Middleweight title from Adesanya. The two clashed with flurries of kicks, the fight took them to the second round when Adesanya knocked out Periera with a devastating right hand to the face. Adesanya had finally conquered the man who had three wins over him and regained the belt he has made himself a household name with. 

UFC can be watched via ESPN+ and pay per view. The next UFC PPV, UFC 288 will be on May 6, 2023 with the Bantamweight Championship bout between champion Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo headlining.