Israel Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier to successfully defend his UFC middleweight title during the headlining fight for UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Adesanya improves to 23-1 for his career.
The event kicked off with Adesanya channeling the Undertaker for his entrance. Adesanya stayed consistently ahead throughout the fight, landing strikes and keeping Cannonier from getting inside. In the second round, there was an accidental eye poke by Adesanya that led to a break. Cannonier grew more aggressive as the fight went on, but Adesanya stayed ahead overall.
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After the match, Adesanya remarked that he wants his next fight to be against Alex Pereira, who defeated Sean Strickland earlier in the night.
Adesanya is undefeated at 185 pounds, sitting a 12-0 in the UFC in that weight class. Prior to Sunday night, Adesanya last defeated rival Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 in February. The only loss for Adesanya’s UFC career came at UFC 259 to Jan Blachowicz.
Earlier in the night, Alexander Volkanovski retained the featherweight title with a dramatic win over Max Holloway, Alex Pereira defeated Sean Strickland via first-round TKO, Jim Miller defeated Donald Cerrone via second-round submission, and more.
Check out clips from the event below.
[Via]