Middleweight championship rematch headlines UFC 287 in Miami: Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya.
For the first time in 20 years, the UFC returns to Miami, and with that comes a rematch for the UFC Middleweight Championship for new champion Alex Pereira. The match will be on Saturday night at the Kaseya Center.
He'll be fighting the man he defeated for the title at Madison Square Garden last November, Israel Adesanya.
The Last Time These Two Fought
Their first fight at Madison Square Garden in 2022 was a highly anticipated matchup between two of the best strikers in the sport.
Pereira was able to knock out Adesanya in the third round with a left hook, earning him the Middleweight Championship.
Pereira outlanded Adesanya 91-86 in significant strikes, including 28-9 in the final round. The Brazilian had never been to the championship rounds in 6 MMA fights entering the fight.
This is the 15th immediate title fight rematch in UFC history. Adesanya can become just the 4th of those 15 fighters to reclaim the belt.
Randy Couture did it against Vitor Belfort in 2004, Deiveson Figueiredo beat Brandon Moreno in January 2022 and Amanda Nunes regained her title from Julianna Peña in July 2022.
Back to Brazil
Pereira’s victory at UFC 281 brought the middleweight championship back to Brazil for the first time since July 2013, when Anderson’s Silva record 2,457 day-reign ended at the hands of Chris Weidman.
Pereira became the 3rd Brazilian fighter in UFC history to hold middleweight gold, along with Silva from 2006-13 and Murilo Bustamante in 2002.
Fun Facts and Odds
Adesanya will attempt to become the first 2-time champion in UFC middleweight history. Former champions at 185 pounds are 0-3 in title rematches.
The odds for the first fight closed with Adesanya as the -230 favorite at Caesars Sportsbook and Pereira as the +190 underdog.
Now with the roles reversed, it is still Adesanya as the favorite, this time at -140. In his 15-fight UFC career, Adesanya has never been the underdog.
His closest odds were against Brad Tavares, where the fight was a pick’em at -115.
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2023 Masters Round 1 and 2 Groupings, Tee Times Announced
It's Masters week, and we now know the first and second round groupings and tee times, so you can plan your schedule for watching everything unfold at Augusta National. Here's the Masters tee times.
Kicking things off, once again, this year will be honorary captains Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. They'll hit the ceremonial shots Thursday at 7:40 a.m.
Our first golfers on the course after that will be Mike Weir and Kevin Na, hitting the course at 8 a.m.
Some of the notable groupings include, of course, Tiger Woods, who will play with Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele the first two days. They tee off at 10:18 a.m. on Thursday, and 1:24 p.m. on Friday.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler will join Max Homa and amateur Sam Bennett at 1:36 p.m. on Thursday, and 10:30 a.m. on Friday.
Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Cameron Young will head out at 10:42 a.m. on Thursday, and 1:48 p.m. on Friday.
Stay up to date with the live leaderboard.
Here's the full schedule of groupings for Thursday and Friday at the Masters, with Friday's time in parenthesis:
