Glory of Heroes 7: Pereira Knocks Out Adesanya

On March 4, 2017, Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya met in a rematch at Glory of Heroes 7 in São Paulo, Brazil. The rematch was more decisive than their first encounter: in the third round Pereira landed a left hook that connected cleanly, sending Adesanya to the canvas and ending the fight by knockout. Round-by-round technical writeups describe the final sequence as Pereira connecting hard and Adesanya dropping to the canvas "even harder," concluding the bout with a KO that registered as Adesanya's first professional knockout loss in coverage of the fight [3]. Setup and context: The 2017 rematch followed Pereira's 2016 unanimous decision win and carried heightened stakes for reputation between the two fighters. The bout occurred in front of a Brazilian crowd in São Paulo, contributing to the moment's intensity as Pereira finished the fight in front of home-region supporters [3]. Immediate reactions: Combat Press's event writeup described the final sequence and the abruptness of the finish, noting how the left hook concluded the fight and underscoring the knockout's visual impact [3]. Pereira later recounted seeing Adesanya visibly upset after the bout: "After the fight I saw him crying outside in Ibirapuera. Sitting on a low wall with his trainer - that's it," a remark Pereira made when interviewed and later summarized by MMA News [2]. The knockout became a recurring element in later media and in Pereira's own recounting of motivation when pursuing a fight with Adesanya in mixed martial arts [3][2].

The March 4, 2017 left-hook KO is considered a defining early moment in the Adesanya–Pereira narrative because it moved the ledger from a decision to a knockout, giving Pereira a more emphatic claim over Adesanya in stand-up competition [3][2]. The finish supplied Pereira with a vivid, oft-cited example he later used as psychological and promotional leverage while transitioning to MMA, and it deepened the personal angle reporters and promoters used to market their later UFC encounters [1][3].

After the 2017 KO, the rematch result remained a frequent touchpoint in coverage of both fighters: Pereira referenced the finish in later interviews, and Adesanya carried the loss as a historical mark he sought to avenge when their paths crossed again in MMA [2][1]. Over subsequent years Pereira moved into mixed martial arts and by 2022 had enough momentum in the UFC to secure a title fight against Adesanya; the 2017 finish was foregrounded in pre-fight narratives for UFC 281 and the UFC 287 rematch that followed [1][4].