Israel Adesanya couldn’t put Robert Whittaker away this time and that meant he had to sweat out the scorecards.
In the end, Adesanya was once again victorious over his rival as he won a unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) over Whittaker to retain his middleweight championship in the main event of UFC 271 on Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. It was the fourth straight successful title defense for Adesanya.
Aside from the opening round in which Adesanya scored the only knockdown, this bout was very competitive and was noted on the :
judges’ scorescards.
#UFC271 Official Scorecard: Israel Adesanya (@StyleBender) vs Robert Whittaker
All Tonight’s Scorecards: https://t.co/soKCeHne5t pic.twitter.com/DDAy2T2C1P
— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 13, 2022
Rounds 2, 4, and 5 were not unanimous according to judges Jacob Montalvo, Doug Crosby, and Mike Beltran. All three agreed that the champion took Rounds 1 and 3.
Saturday’s main event was a rematch from UFC 243 in October 2019. At that event, Adesanya was the challenger and he defeated Whittaker by second-round knockout to claim the middleweight title. Whittaker went the distance this time, but fell short despite a competitive effort.
