The UFC returns to its annual November trip to Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

In the main event of UFC 281, the middleweight title is up for grabs as Israel Adesanya looks to defend his belt against Alex Pereira. These two fought twice in kickboxing with Pereira winning both including one by KO. Adesanya is looking to defend his middleweight title for the sixth time. He’s coming off a decision win over Jared Cannonier by decision back in July. Pereira, meanwhile, is just 3-0 in the UFC and coming off a KO win over Sean Strickland. His other two wins are by decision over Bruno Silva and by KO over Andreas Michailidis exactly one year ago at the MSG card in 2021.

The co-main event of the card sees Carla Esparza takes on Zhang Weili. Esparza won the belt back in May as she defeated Rose Namajunas while Weili knocked out Joanna Jedrzejczyk last time out.

UFC 281 also features a highly-anticipated lightweight bout between Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler. The main card also sees Frankie Edgar’s retirement fight against Chris Gutierrez while Dan Hooker takes on Claudio Puelles in the main card opener.

Ahead of UFC 281, all 28 fighters hit the scales Friday morning and two fighters missed weight.

UFC 281 weigh-ins:

Main Card

• Israel Adesanya (185) vs. Alex Pereira (184.6)
• Carla Esparza (114.8) vs. Zhang Weili (114.8)
• Michael Chandler (155.8) vs. Dustin Poirier (156)
• Frankie Edgar (135.6) vs. Chris Gutierrez (136)
• Dan Hooker (155.8) vs. Claudio Puelles (155.2)

Prelims

• Renato Moicano (155.8) vs. Brad Riddell (155.6)
• Dominick Reyes (205.4) vs. Ryan Spann (206.6)*
• Erin Blanchfield (125) vs. Molly McCann (125.4)
• Andre Petroski (185.8) vs. Wellington Turman (185.2)

Early Prelims