Two championship fights and a splashy bout in one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's deepest divisions highlight U.F.C. 281 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Israel Adesanya, the U.F.C.’s middleweight champion, will attempt to defend his belt for the seventh time against Alex Pereira, a rising mixed martial arts contender who defeated Adesanya twice in the earlier stages of their careers in kickboxing fights. Adesanya, who joined the U.F.C. in 2018, holds an undefeated record in the 185-pound middleweight division and has lost only once in mixed martial arts, when he challenged for the 205-pound light heavyweight belt in March 2021.