By Safiu Kehinde
Nigerian-born UFC fighter, Israel Adesanya proved too smart to be caged as he defeated Robert Whittaker by 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 to retain his middleweight belt at UFC 271, Houston.
Renowned for his agility and breathtaking footwork, the ‘Last Stylebender’ took the match by its realm against his arch-rival, Whittaker who looked towards pinning Adesanya having lost their first encounter in Australia about two-and-a-half years ago.
The first round had both men gauging their stance in an attempt to find where to get the best out of each other. Whittaker threw some side leg kicks at the defending champion to give him some problem from distance. But Adesanya kept the distance well to avoid an early havoc from his opponent. The defending champion got the best out of Whittaker in the first round. He dropped his challenger with a straight left hand, delivered further attacks to the dismay of Whittaker.
Devastated by Adesanya’s dominance at the first round, Whittaker sought ways of taking down the champion. He eventually had his chance having launched a nice right hook at the champion before recording his first takedown. This was, however, not enough as Adesanya had earlier put a nice uppercut through Whittaker, rocking the challenger off balance.
The third round fell in favor of Adesanya whose attacks Whittaker could not contain. The ‘Last Stylebender’ was winning the striking battle with one low kick staggering Whittaker near the cage. With three straight rounds, Adesanya appeared to have nailed his victory but still had to keep the momentum across the last two rounds.
Whittaker did well enough to surpass Adesanya in the last two rounds. To keep a fair record, Adesanya was just looking to control the bout to the climax with his challenger getting points out of the champion.
At the end of the bout, Israel Adesanya won and retained his belt, as he eyes another fight in June.
