Israel Adesanya efficiently defended his middleweight title in opposition to Jared Cannonier in the principle occasion of UFC 276, profitable through unanimous determination. It was a disappointing predominant occasion, nevertheless it was nonetheless a profitable title defence for Israel Adesanya, from Nigeria, who retained his UFC Middleweight Championship in opposition to Jared Cannonier of their middleweight championship struggle. In simply the seventh skilled struggle of his former kickboxing rival, Alex Pereira, Pereira (6-1) has instantly emerged as a greater opponent than Israel Adesanya, who he has defeated twice already in kickboxing. Israel Adesanya is anticipated to get one other golden alternative to be omnipresent in his upcoming bout with Alex Pereira, a Brazilian kickboxing sensation who eradicated Shawn Strickland at UFC 276. Israel Adesanya gained the middleweight strap three years in the past and is without doubt one of the UFCs most fun fighters and personalities. Nonetheless, his meticulous stroll across the ring was maybe probably the most thrilling a part of his drier, technical win over Jared Cannonier.

Whereas Alexander Volkanovski delivered a shocking show of dominance to maintain his featherweight title versus Max Holloway of their trilogy bout, middleweight champ Israel Adesanya left followers feeling dissatisfied following a stable, lacklustre win over Jared Cannonier. UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya earned himself a cool $590,000 for his bout in opposition to Paulo Costa. The precise value of the dominant middleweight champ’s contract is not going to be recognized till he has fought within the state requiring the MMA brass to disclose the purses of their fighters. Pereira earned a dominating victory on the undercard of UFC 276, dominating top-five ranked fighter Shawn Strickland, then scoring brutal knockouts. With the state of affairs between heavyweight champ Frances Ngannou and the UFC lower than preferrred, Paradigm Sports activities head coach Tim Simpson believes that controversy may incentivise the UFC to make a deal for UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.

Israel Adesanya’s earlier three bouts within the Octagon have all led to his determination victory. Having mentioned that, some supporters consider the Nigerian is turning into progressively risk-averse and is doing every part he can to maintain his middleweight belt on the judges’ scorecards. To place it one other means, he’s coasting. That is the prevalent storyline following Adesanya’s most up-to-date championship defence at UFC 276, the place ‘The Final Stylebender’ strolled to a unanimous victory over Jared Cannonier, however Alex Pereira disagrees.

Pereira is presently ranked sixth within the UFC middleweight standings and is the one boxer in fight sports activities historical past to have KO’d Adesanya. Jan Blachowicz is keen to rematch Israel Adesanya for the middleweight belt. The UFC276 win drew a lot criticism for Adesanya’s defensive strategy, particularly after convincing him to ship a spectacular efficiency. Some folks argued that Adesanya’s loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, throughout a failed effort to advance up and declare the sunshine heavyweight title, has prompted “The Final Stylebender” to change into utterly threat averse, to the expense of leisure.