Israel Adesanya Won UFC 287 Title Fight by KO with Knee Injury Diagnosed as Torn MCL

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya said he suffered a torn MCL before his win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287.

According to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Adesanya divulged Wednesday on his YouTube channel that he suffered a Grade 1 MCL tear one week before the fight when his leg buckled while sparring with his training partner.

Despite the injury, Adesanya defeated Pereira by second-round knockout on April 8, making him a two-time UFC middleweight champion.

Regarding his decision to go through with the fight against Pereira despite the injury, Adesanya said:

"I've been here before. My UFC debut, three weeks out, I did my right ankle. I remember the next day, calling [a physiotherapist] and being like, 'Yo, I need to see you tomorrow ASAP.' ... He had to re-injure it or cause pain to it. I remember biting on a towel and sitting there in pain, screaming as he's f--king massaging my hurt ankle where it's not supposed to be massaged."

With the win over Pereira, Adesanya improved to 24-2 in his MMA career and got retribution for his loss to Pereira at UFC 281.

Adesanya had also previously lost twice to Pereira in professional kickboxing, making the UFC 287 victory arguably the biggest of his combat sports career.

In addition to the knee injury not impacting Adesanya's ability to fight and defeat Pereira, it is not expected to force him to miss any time either.

Per Okamoto, Adesanya has his sights set on Dricus Du Plessis as the opponent for his first title defense in his second reign as champion.

UFC president Dana White said the winner of Du Plessis vs. Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July will be first in line to challenge Adesanya.