Too strong for Whitaker, Adesanaya keeps his belt

Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whitaker by unanimous decision in Saturday’s UFC 271 main event in Houston. The New Zealand-born Nigerian fighter remains the undisputed middleweight champion.

Israel Adesanaya does not leave his belt. Still undefeated in the middleweight class, the 32-year-old fighter dominated American Robert Whitaker by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) on Saturday at the UFC 271 main event in Houston. A new victory over a rival from whom the New Zealander stole the title from Nigeria in October 2019 by knockout in the second round.

This time, there was no knockout but an overall controlled victory after five rounds. Adesanya commented, “I knew he would give everything in the fight. He had nothing to lose but I’m the champ, and if you want my belt, you have to come and take it from me! I’m ‘great’ out of this cage so he couldn’t stop me on the floor.”

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Whitaker ‘surprised’

For Taylor Labellos, a mixed martial arts consultant at RMC Sport, Robert Whitaker “mentally missed his fight.” But the American, all smiles, did not look disappointed at his second defeat to the middleweight champion: “I am happy to fight this fight, to give everything. I thought I had done enough. I was surprised by the decision but would not take anything away from his victory. He beat me for the second time “.

The UFC evening was also marked by a knockout as unexpected as it was impressive. With a terrible elbow in the second round, Australian Tai Toivasa knocked out American heavyweight Derek Lewis, who had already been defeated by Cyril Jean last August. A devastating knockdown can be seen in the video above.