Adesanya, Volkanovski retain titles at UFC 276
LAS VEGAS, USA – Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski scored dominant unanimous decision victories and retained their UFC titles at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 2, on a UFC 276 fight card that was short on fireworks but had plenty of skill on show.
Adesanya did a masterful job of controlling the distance to evade the punching power of Cannonier, the 32-year-old Nigerian staying out of range before darting in to score with a dizzying variety of strikes across the five five-minute rounds.
Texas native Cannonier did what he could in the later stages to trap Adesanya against the cage, but Adesanya was rarely in any danger en route to his fifth successful title defense.
Adesanya took the cards 49-46, 49-46, 50-45, and improved to 12-0 in the middleweight division, the second-longest streak in UFC behind Anderson Silva (13-0).
“They had an excellent game plan,” Adesanya said about Cannonier’s team. “It was really hard to get my follow-ups going.”
Adesanya called out who he wants to fight next: Alex Pereira, who owns two wins over Adesanya in kickboxing.
Pereira also fought – and won – on the undercard Saturday night. Pereira was in the arena for Adesanya’s pronouncement.
“The first time I told you it was an error on my part spamming the right hand,” Adesanya said to Pereira.
“That was in kickboxing. … Next time I punch you, you’ll be on skates and you’re gonna be frozen like Elsa. I’ll leave it at that.”
In the co-main event, Australia’s Volkanovski used his speed and a consistent stinging jab to score a convincing victory over Hawaiian Max Holloway, keeping his featherweight title before suggesting a move up to lightweight.
Volkanovski took the cards 50-45 across the board, landing 199 signature strikes and opening up cuts to Holloway’s face by fight’s end.
“I want to be busy, I don’t think this division itself can keep me busy – I want to move up to lightweight, go for double champ (add the lightweight belt) and keep two divisions busy,” he said in his post-fight interview in the octagon.
Earlier in the evening, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone called time on his career after losing to Jim Miller via second-round submission in his 55th professional fight.
“I’m not complaining at anybody but I just don’t love it anymore,” the 39-year-old fan favorite said, leaving his gloves and cowboy hat in the center of the cage.
“I’m going to be a movie star. It’s time to bow out, one hell of a career.”
Cerrone’s last win in the UFC came in May 2019 against Al Iaquinta and he has lost six of his seven fights since then, with the other bout ruled a no-contest.
– Rappler.com