Revenge is a dish best served cold, and boy did Israel Adesanya serve up a frosty KO at UFC 287. The middleweight title bout between Adesanya and long-time rival Alex Pereira had fans on the edge of their seats, but it was “The Last Stylebender” who closed the show with powerful strikes in round two.

Things were looking dicey for Adesanya in the first round as he ate calf kicks left, right, and center. But our man from New Zealand wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He responded with a massive overhand that caught Pereira by surprise, then followed up with another big strike that sent the Brazilian fighter crashing to the canvas.

This marked a sweet victory for Adesanya, who had lost to Pereira in their first three meetings. In fact, just last year at UFC 281, Adesanya was KO’d in the fifth round of a fight he had been dominating up until that point. The bad blood between these two fighters goes way back to their kickboxing days, but it looks like the tables have finally turned in Adesanya’s favor.

After the fight, Adesanya showed his gratitude to his long-time foe, saying, “Thank you for all that you’ve done. Thank you for beating me because [by] beating me, you made me a better fighter, a better person.” Aww, who says there’s no love in fighting?

The newly crowned two-time UFC champion added, “In this camp, I didn’t f*** around. If you know me, you know I like a vacation, but I didn’t f*** around, I stayed on the grind.” Sounds like somebody learned their lesson the hard way.

With this victory under his belt, we can’t wait to see what Adesanya has in store for us next. One thing’s for sure – there’s no shortage of drama and excitement when this dude steps into the octagon.