Israel Adesanya was the story all week. His new, lucrative contract with the UFC. His teammates from City Kickboxing fighting on the same card. His current and future stardom.
It felt like no one here was talking about Robert Whittaker, the challenger and former champ who talks no trash and draws absolutely no undue attention to himself. It was almost like it was a foregone conclusion that Adesanya would walk away with his UFC middleweight title without much trouble.
That was very much not the case, though.
Adesanya did defeat Whittaker via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) in the main event of UFC 271 on Saturday night at Toyota Center. Adesanya did indeed leave the Octagon with his middleweight belt, using his length and reach to counter Whittaker’s boxing. Adesanya’s biggest success came with his kicks to Whittaker’s left leg, which was showing bruising and swelling early in the fight.
But the fight was incredibly close — so much so that the crowd booed the decision, thinking Whittaker was the rightful winner. At the start of the bout, the Houston fans were completely behind Adesanya, but that changed as the fight went on and they sensed a possible upset. Chants of “Bobby!” could be heard in the late rounds.
Adesanya said he rated his own performance as a “seven out of 10.”
“Not bad,” he said. “Good night in the office. Good chess match.”
The important thing, he said, was the triumph. Whittaker said afterward he considered he “did enough” to win. Adesanya shut that idea down.
“He did not win that fight, and he knows it,” Adesanya said. “He needs to go have a shower as well and reflect and realize that’s not true. … You don’t do ‘enough’ to win the title. You take the belt. That’s how this works.”
Judges Jacob Montalvo and Doug Crosby had Adesanya winning the first three rounds and Whittaker taking the final two. Judge Mike Beltran had Adesanya winning all but the second round, which he gave to Whittaker.
Adesanya outlanded Whittaker 79-59 in significant strikes, according to UFC Stats. But Whittaker landed more significant strikes to the head, 38-36, with Adesanya outlanding Whittaker in strikes to the legs, 29-13. Whittaker landed four takedowns, which matched Marvin Vettori for the most by any opposing fighter versus Adesanya in the UFC, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“We’re just two guys trying to be the best in the world,” Adesanya said. “Tonight, I was the best in the world.”
Coming in, ESPN had Adesanya ranked No. 2 and Whittaker ranked No. 9 on its MMA pound-for-pound rankings. At middleweight, Adesanya was No. 1 and Whittaker No. 2.
