ISRAEL ADESANYA retained the UFC middleweight title with a striking clinic against Jared Cannonier.
The Nigerian-born Kiwi made his fifth defence of the 185lb strap early on Sunday morning in the main event of a stacked UFC 276 card in Las Vegas.
Adesanya went into the International Fight Week headliner brimming with confidence, vowing to ‘f**k up’ the in-form Killa Gorilla.
The fan favourite failed to deliver on his promise but turned in a striking masterclass as he cruised to a unanimous decision victory – which came courtesy of 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 scorecards.
But he’ll be hoping for a more emphatic victory in a winter title defence against former kickboxing foe Alex Pereira – who scored a vicious KO of Sean Strickland a few hours earlier.
He told UFC commentator Joe Rogan: “We know who’s next. That Poatan Porra.
READ MORE IN SPORT
“Trust me, this first time I told you it was an error on my part – a stabbing right hand. And that was in kickboxing.
“It’s easy to knock out, what’s the hillbilly’s name? Because he was parrying the jab.
“But like I said at the press conference, next time I put you on skates, you’re going to get frozen like Elsa.”
Adesanya – who paid tribute to WWE legend The Undertaker as he walked to the cage – was in no rush to make an early statement, taking his time and looking for openings with feints.
After taking the centre of the octagon, he quickly went to work with fast and stinging low leg kicks.
Slowly but surely, Cannonier began to put Adesanya on the back foot – although he was wayward with a telegraphed right hand.
Adesanya continued to sit back and play the counter striking game, although he did open up with jabs towards the end of the stanza – which he closed with a beautiful right hand.
Cannonier changed tack in the second round, stepping his foot on the gas and mixing in takedown attempts.
But the slick and elusive Adesanya stuffed the attempts and continued to operate in second gear with his slick striking.
A good straight right hand snapped back the head of Cannonier before the action was paused due to an accidental eye poke.
Adesanya was more than happy to operate on the outside in the third and fourth rounds and pick Cannonier apart at distance.
He continued to beautifully mix in low leg kicks and right hands between clinches against the fence.
Cannonier landed some good shots against the cage but was unable to keep the champ on the fence long enough to do any serious damage.
Former heavyweight Cannonier went for broke after the fourth and final restart and narrowly missed with a big right.
But frustratingly for him and his corner, he was unable to close the distance for a prolonged period of time and put Adesanya in any serious trouble.
When he did look to close the distance, he found himself being tied up and caught with beautiful lead elbows.
Late clinch and single-leg takedown attempts were easily shrugged off by Adesanya, although he did eat a right hand after landing a stiff jab.
Adesanya was more than happy to stay on the outside for the final moments of the fight, which he closed out with a low kick.
Despite retaining his unbeaten record at middleweight, Adesanya was seemingly not too impressed with his performance.
But he was quick to give props to a game and dogged Cannonier, saying: “One thing I was looking forward was facing Jared as an opponent.
“But the second thing I was looking forward to was John Crouch versus Eugene Bareman.
“Two great coaches, two great teams. And I’ll tell you one thing: they had an excellent game plan.
“It was really hard to get my follow-ups going, my second phases going because they had a really good game plan and Jared’s fortitude in his mind.”
