Israel Adesanya makes fifth defense of title against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, July 2, 2022, for UFC 276, going down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a middleweight championship bout between current champion Israel Adesanya (22-1), who looks to make the fifth-straight defense of his crown tonight opposing no. 2 ranked Jared Cannonier (15-5).
Co-headlining the event is a trilogy bout between UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (24-1) and former champion Max Holloway (23-6).
Back to our main event, the champion comes into the bout undefeated as a middleweight mixed martial artist (22-0), while Cannonier comes in having gone 5-1 in the middleweight division since dropping down from light-heavyweight, and formerly heavyweight.
Continue reading to see how this epic lightweight contest went down:
Official Result: Israel Adesanya def. Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision 49-46, 49-46, 50-45
Adesanya does a good job mixing up his striking attack right out of the gate, getting his straight punches and kicks of all sorts going early. Cannonier is pressing the action, but he’s getting tagged up throughout the first five minutes.
Adesanya takes the center to start the second, and he really starts to unleash some nasty combinations.
The third round was Cannonier’s best round, the only round he out-struck the champion in, as he’s able to back him up with some heavy punches. After those punches land, he’s able to secure some cage control time, and is also able to in the fourth, though he’s out-struck for most of it.
The champion pulls away in the fifth, as he’s able to evade Cannonier’s big strikes and land his out beautiful counters.
This was a typical Israel Adesanya performance, as he makes the fifth-straight defense of his UFC middleweight championship tonight.
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