Whether or not Marc Goddard stopped the fight at the moment he did, Alex Pereira thinks he would have finished Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 . Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) dethroned Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) of the middleweight title with a fifth-round TKO at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Brazilian had “The Last Stylebender” on wobbly legs with a big combination, prompting referee Goddard to stop the fight while Adesanya was still standing. Adesanya immediately protested the stoppage and said he would have wanted more time to defend himself.