Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya has maintained his championship as the middleweight after beating Jared Cannonier at the UFC 276.
The fight held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday favored Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45).
Since making his debut in 2018, ‘Adesanya is still undefeated in the middleweight. He first captured the interim title in the Fight of The Year winner against Kelvin Gastelum in 2019.
With the victory, he has called out Alex Pereira for his next title defence.
Adesanya, however, gave credit to the Brazilian for his knockout win over Strickland but insisted he is the better all-round fighter and will show him what mixed martial arts is all about.
Meanwhile, with his latest win, the Last Stylebender remains unbeaten at 185 pounds in the UFC with a 12-0 record in the middleweight division.
He is the fourth fighter in UFC history to win 12 fights in one weight class, joining welterweight champion and fellow Nigerian, Kamaru Usman, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former lightweight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Brief Biography:
Israel Mobolaji Odunayo Oluwafemi Temitayo Owolabi Adesanya was born 22 July 1989. A Nigerian-born New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines.
Nickname(s). The Last Stylebender
Residence: Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality: Nigerian, New Zealander
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight: 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Professional boxing record
Total. 6
Wins: 5
By knockout: 1
Losses: 1
