Adesanya won the fight via unanimous decision, outpointing Jarred Cannonier over 5 rounds to retain his UFC middleweight belt
By Mosope Micheals
Israel Adesanya on Sunday morning
in Las Vegas, United States of America outpointed Jarred Cannonier over five rounds via unanimous decision to retain the UFC middleweight championship.
The 32-year-old Nigerian-born fighter controlled the bout in four of the five rounds and used his superior movement and control of distance to out-strike Cannonier.
After Adesanya won the middleweight championship in 2019, he has dominated the division, outclassing every opponent he has come up against.
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However, in Cannonier, ‘The Last Stylebender’ faced a fighter who has won five of his past six UFC fights and won a lot of the bouts showing ferocious knockout prowess.
Despite Cannonier’s run, he was a heavy pre-fight underdog with bookmakers, with Adesanya boasting he saw nothing in the American that he had not seen in prior opponents.
Cannonier did his best and put up a strong challenge, but it was not good enough, as he was simply outclassed by the New Zealander powerhouse.
The judges’ cards read 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 at the end of the fight.
Later, Adesanya called out Alex Pereira, looking to exact revenge on the American.
He said: “The first time I had you on skates, next time I’ll have you Frozen, like Elsa.”