Adesanya was rendering the fifth defence of his middleweight title as he accepted the challenge of the hard-hitting Cannonier. The champion was hardly out of second gear in the five-round major event as he floated to a fourth title defence. But the Las Vegas populace was not too awed as they booed the fight throughout before all three judges delivered the Nigerian triumph in spaces of four and five rounds.
“He had an excellent game plan; 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,” said 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.”
Adesanya consolidated the middleweight title with his first triumph over Robert Whittaker in 2019 with the only blemish on his history since his beating by then light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz two years later. Cannonier, however, had gained five of his aforementioned six battles with triumphs over Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson obtaining his shot at the title.
Adesanya took an urn to the cage as he paid deference to WWE legend “The Undertaker” in the most dramatic of his striking openings. And the champion obtained a kick-heavy technique in the beginning moments as Cannonier swerved and misplaced an overhand right.
The champion improved the velocity at the beginning of the second round as he skillfully shifted postures to secure his ram-rod jab. And almost as the Sin City crowd started to grow restless, Adesanya started to set his punches together before the fight was halted when Cannonier was jabbed in the eye.
Cannonier’s right eye had begun to swell up by the third round but the contender assumed a more aggressive strategy as the title combat struck the halfway imprint. He tried to clamp Adesanya to the cage but the champion slinked out of danger. Adesanya snarled back Cannonier’s head with another infallible swipe at the beginning of the fourth bout as he went on dominating. The challenger was proficient to gain a lone right-hand midway through the game but his accomplishments were few and far between as the crowd swelled in restlessness again.
Cannonier’s corner warned him that he was down three rounds to one getting on into the last stoppage, implying the American required a tie-up to earn the title. Adesanya was comfortable to coast through the final five minutes, much to the fluster of the 19,000 fans in the T-Mobile Arena. And Cannonier gave little thread as his title challenge faded out.
Image credit: Mirror.co
The post ISREAL ADESANYA DEFEATS JARED CANNONIER TO RETAIN THE UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE appeared first on Entertainment SA - South African Entertainment News, Celebrity and Lifestyle Online Magazine & Entertainment.
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