UFC 281 preview: Frankie Edgar leaves MMA in a much better place than he found it

Israel Adesanya will defend his middleweight title in the main event Saturday at UFC 281 against long-time rival Alex Pereira. Pereira defeated Adesanya in two kickboxing matches, one by decision and the second, in 2017, by brutal one-punch KO.

Yet, at BetMGM, Adesanya is better than a 2-to-1 favorite. Adesanya is -210 to win, with Pereira at +170. Surprisingly, the odds of each of them winning by KO is just about the same, despite the fact that Pereira is one of the biggest punchers in UFC history. Adesanya by KO is +300, but Pereira by KO is +275.

Yes is a favorite on the prop that asks if the fight goes the difference. Yes is -120 and no is -110.

In UFC 281’s co-main event, strawweight champion Carla Esparza could fight her best and still not have it be enough. Zhang Weili, is arguably the best athlete among UFC strawweights and has incredible physical skills. Zhang said there is nothing to fear in Esparza’s game, which clearly caught the champion’s attention. She didn’t get irate, but she’s been underestimated for much of her career and is champion now nearly eight years since her UFC debut.

“I think probably a lot of people have felt that about my game, but it doesn’t really matter what she thinks or what she fears,” Esparza said Wednesday at media day. “I’m going in there with my best game, and this is probably one of the best camps I’ve had. I’m just ready to go in there the best me and prove the world wrong, I guess.”

In an instant classic, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler fought a bloody back-and-forth battle that ended when Poirier locked in a rear naked choke in the third round. 

Frankie Edgar’s legendary UFC career came to a violent end as Chris Gutierrez put the former champion to sleep with a brutal leaping knee to the chin in the first round. Edgar hadn’t landed anything of note as he looked for an opening. Gutierrez leapt with a knee and caught him on the chin and like that, it was over instantly. Edgar ends his career with a 24-11-1 record while Gutierrez improves his to 19-3-2.

In the main card opener, Dan Hooker ended his two-fight skid with a second-round TKO of Claudio Puelles, who was mostly trying to grapple the 6-footer from New Zealand. Hooker fought out of Puelles’ submission attempts in the first round and ended the fight with multiple teep kicks that put Puelles on the mat and forced referee Keith Peterson to call off the fight.

Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole is cageside and will have full coverage of the stacked show, so keep it locked here.

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