“I thought he (Adesanya) fought a good fight. I thought he was smart. I thought he dominated the fight."
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Israel Adesanya is being defended by Daniel Cormier in response to the criticism he got at UFC 276. This past Saturday, July 2, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, the middleweight title fight featured Israel Adesanya (23-1 MMA) and Jared Cannonier (15-6 MMA). In the main event of UFC 276 Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45), retaining his middleweight championship.
This was “The Last Stylebender’s” fifth straight championship defence, and he has now prevailed in 23 of his 24 professional fights. Fans, who even started booing throughout the fight because they thought the battle between the two middleweights was boring, overshadowed Adesanya’s victory. Although it may not have been the most thrilling performance that it could have or could have been, Adesanya did win and he did keep the belt, as they say in sports.
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Regarding the criticism of Adesanya’s performance in the fight, Daniel Cormier, the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, had the following to say on his ESPN “DC & RC” show: “So many people have said this, and it gets a bit cliche, but it takes two to tango. If Jared Cannonier is going to cruise to a loss, how is it Izzy’s responsibility to do more? Now, I thought Cannonier early had some moments, but they just weren’t sustained.”
“He could not get it going to a level or to a degree that could truly challenge Adesanya. Adesanya is one of the most talented counter-strikers in the business, so you’ve got to be very guarded with your engagements because if you don’t, you end up like Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker in the first fight and Kelvin Gastelum to a lesser degree.”
Cormier had high praises for Adesanya as he says Adesanya had the upper hand during the whole fight. He said, “I thought he (Adesanya) fought a good fight. I thought he was smart. I thought he dominated the fight. He won the fight four rounds to one on both cards and then the other card was five rounds to zero. What more can you want from a guy in defending his championship but winning all the rounds?”
Stephen Thompson declines the quick turnaround fight and wants Usman next.
