Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision to retain his title and maintain control of the middleweight division at UFC 271 on Saturday night.
Adesanya won his 11th straight middleweight fight in the UFC and remained undefeated. The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 in favor of Adesanya, who has won all four of his title defenses — three by unanimous decision and one by knockout.
After Adesanya controlled most of the first round, Whittaker rebounded in the second to take the champion down against the cage midway through the round and land a couple punches to the face. But, Adesanya was able to get out of Whittaker’s hold and land a couple punches. The next contender for the UFC middleweight title might be Jared Cannonier , who knocked out Derek Brunson in the second round of their fight earlier in the night.
White said in the post-fight press conference he wouldn’t say no to Cannonier, but he was non-committal on a date for a title fight between Cannonier and Adesanya despite the champion saying in the post-fight press conference that the two should fight in June.