Nigerian born Israel Adesanya retained his middleweight title at UFC 271 in Houston, Texas by defeating Australian, Robert Whittaker on Sunday
The reigning UFC middleweight champion won via a unanimous decision after five rounds in his fourth consecutive title defense in front of 6,000 fans packed into the Toyota Center
The final scorecards read 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 with Adesanya moving to 22-1 in his career with the victory.
Adesanya outlanded Whittaker 79-59 in significant strikes, according to UFC Stats. But Whittaker landed more significant strikes to the head, 38-36, with Adesanya outlanding Whittaker in strikes to the legs, 29-13. Whittaker landed four takedowns, which matched Marvin Vettori for the most by any opposing fighter against Adesanya in the UFC, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Coming in, ESPN had Adesanya ranked No. 2 and Whittaker ranked No. 9 on its MMA pound-for-pound rankings. At middleweight, Adesanya was No. 1 and Whittaker No. 2.
I thought I had defeated Israel Adesanya -Robert Whitetaker
Robert Whittaker has regretted his defeat to Israel Adesanya in their UFC 271 encounter.
Whittaker came into the challenge to regain the middleweight championship he lost to Adesanya in 2019.
But he came up short as Adesanya retained the title via unanimous decision in the highly competitive fight.
Adesanya’s jabs and heavy leg kicks piled up points as he took the decision by scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46.
The win over Whittaker was Adesanya’s fourth defense of the middleweight championship since winning the belt in the first meeting with Whittaker.
For Whittaker, who had a three-fight winning streak snapped, the loss was a tough pill to swallow.
https://punchng.com/breaking-israel-adesanya-beats-whittaker-to-retain-ufc-middleweight-belt/?utm_source=top-story&utm_medium=web
“Yeah, I did [think I won the fight],” Whittaker said.
“I know I started off rocky in the first round but I felt like I took everyone after that. It is what it is. As they say, don’t leave it in the hands of the judges. I’m gutted. I’m gutted. I thought I did enough.”