Israel Adesanya successfully defended his title in the UFC 276 main event but it’s probably not a performance that will get added to his highlight reel.
Adesanya won the striking matches with Jared Cannonier in five rounds. Cannonier was struggling to create any consistent offense against Adesanya. By the end of the fight, the Las Vegas crowd was letting the fighters hear it with a chorus of boos but regardless of the emotions, Adesanya did more than enough to secure the unanimous decision victory.
The judges scored the fight 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 for Adesanya, who paid credit to Cannonier and his team for a job well done with the strategy that prevented him from putting on what he hoped would be a dazzling showcase.
” I’ll tell you a thing, they had a great game plan,” Adesanya stated afterwards. It was hard for me to get my follow-ups started, but my second phases were able to because of their excellent game plan .”
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Adesanya was as deadly and precise as any UFC fighter, and he came out strong picking his shots and Cannonier trying to find an opponent who would allow him to unleash his fighting power. Adesanya also started snapping off a lead jab that was clearly bothering Cannonier, who was stuck operating on the end of the champion’s punches.
The methodical approach from Adesanya allowed him to control the pace while breaking down Cannonier with kicks to the legs and body before he came back up top to the head with his punches. Adesanya really got into the swing of things and put some power behind his strikes, including several kicks which reverberated from Cannonier when he was up high.
A right hand was connecting to Adesanya’s computer. This was another issue Cannonier had to resolve, but he did not appear to know the solution. A mouse was also forming under Cannonier’s right eye, which wasn’t helping with his reaction time to Adesanya’s blistering speed.
There were moments when Cannonier did find a home for his power punches when he actually closed the distance but Adesanya still avoiding taking too much damage before circling away to retake the center of the cage. Cannonier was then thrown back by Adesanya, who seemed to have been the one causing the greatest problems.
Cannonier tried to put on some offense as he shoved Adesanya against a cage, but he was being cautious about giving Adesanya room to escape. That prevented him from throwing any real punches. Adesanya, on the outside was the better striker and this was the main storyline of the fight.
Although it wasn’t the most exciting fight, Adesanya leaves UFC 276 as the champion. This sets up Adesanya for an epic rematch against someone who has two victories over him in a pair past kickboxing matches.
” We know who’s coming next,” Adesanys stated calling out Alex Pereira. Trust me. The first time I said it, it was an error by my spamming right hand, and that was kickboxing.
“It is easy to knockout. What’s the name of the hillbilly? He was parrying jabs. But, like I stated at the press conference: the next time that I put you in skates you’re going get frozen like Elsa .”
With Pereira finishing Sean Strickland earlier in the night and Adesanya doing his job in the main event, it all but guarantees the former rivals will meet again but this time with the UFC middleweight title going up for grabs.
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