Nigerian born UFC fighter Israel Adesanya has retained his middleweight title with an effortless victory over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. He defeated his opponent via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) to retain the UFC middleweight championship.
Adesanya unified the middleweight title with his first win over Robert Whittaker in 2019 with the only blotch on his record since his defeat by then light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz two years later. Cannonier, meanwhile, had won five of his previous six fights with victories over Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson securing his shot at the title.
In his post match interview, Adesanya revealed that his opponent had a good game but met a stiffer opposition in him.
“He had an excellent gameplan; it was really hard to get my follow-ups going, my second phases going,” reflected the champion before calling out bitter rival Alex Pereira who holds two wins over the champion, albeit in the kickboxing ranks. “You know who’s next,” continued Adesanya. “The first time, I told you, was an error on my part. Next time I put you on skates, you’re going to be frozen.”
The UFC fighter who is popularly known as Izzy defeated Robert Whittaker and unified UFC titles available in his category in 2022.
He has successfully defended his title four times since then. On an otherwise perfect record for Adesanya (22-1), his only loss was during his unsuccessful step up to light heavyweight, losing to then-champion Jan Blachowicz
Israel Mobolaji Odunayo Oluwafemi Temitayo Owolabi Adesanya is a Nigerian-born New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines