Izuchukwu Okosi
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The UFC kickboxing world witnessed another great fight on Sunday in the middleweight category as Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya retained his title against Robert Whittaker with his 22nd consecutive victory and no loss.
The rematch between the duo at the Toyota Center in Houston was decided by a unanimous decision in favour of Adesanya 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.
Following the massive win, Adesanya has opened up on the tactic he deployed to defeat his opponent.
“I knew he was going to bring everything cause last time I took everything away from him,” Adesanya said to DAZN News after the fight.
“So he had nothing to lose. Like I said, I’m the champ. You want it, come get it.”
The opening round looked like it would be a repeat of their first meeting at UFC 243 when Adesanya knocked out Whittaker in the second.
“I knew he was going to try and copy Jan [Blachowicz’s] homework,” Adesanya said about Whittaker’s takedowns. “But I’m the big dog in this yard, so he couldn’t take me down at all.”
In the fifth and final round, Adesanya stayed aggressive while Whittaker looked to be content on the outside, willing to counter whatever was thrown his way. Unfortunately, that strategy wasn’t good enough in the eyes of the judges to wrest the title from “The Last Style Bender”. Even though the judges felt he didn’t do enough to win, “The Reaper” didn’t see their viewpoint.
“I know I started off rocky in that first round, but I feel like I took every round after that,” Whittaker said. “What do they say? Don’t leave it to the judges. I’m happy that I fought my heart out. I’m gutted. I thought I did enough. I thought I took that.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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