Israel Adesanya shares his pick for best knockout of the year: “Everyone counted him out”

Israel Adesanya is sharing his pick for best knockout of the year.

UFC 281 takes place this coming weekend, Saturday November 12th at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The main event will feature Israel Adesanya (23-1 MMA) vs Alex Pereira (6-1 MMA) in the middleweight main event. Adesanya is coming into the match with 3 consecutive wins in a row and will be defending his title for the sixth time.  Pereira has a record with the middleweight champion, as he defeated him twice in kickboxing, and is now set to challenge him for high stakes in a mixed martial arts bout.

Speaking with ‘ESPN MMA’ ahead of his fight this coming Saturday, Israel Adesanya was asked by Megan Anderson about who he believes had the best knockout of the year in the UFC, and he replied (h/t Sportskeeda):

“As much as I love both (Usman and Edwards) guys, and it hurt, it was bittersweet, Leon’s just the way it happened. The story leading up to that, getting fights pulled, scratched eye on Belal, no fights for so long, everyone counting him out.”

Continuing ‘The Last Stylebender’ said:

“Kamaru whooped his a** already, whooping his a** on the way to a victory and then the way that happened and then seeing Tim in the cage, just emotional. It was all beautiful so that would be my one. As much as that hurt me, that would be my KO of the year.”

So there it is, Israel Adesanya believes Leon Edwards (20-3 MMA) knockout of Kamaru Usman (20-2 MMA) at UFC 278 this past August was the best knockout of the year.

Do you agree with Adesanya that Leon Edwards has earned that honour or do you have a different pick for the UFC knockout of the year? Will you be watching UFC 281 and what is your prediction for the outcome of Adesanya vs Pereira?

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