A rowdy Houston crowd were treated to a night of knockouts as Adesanya beat Whittaker.
Israel Adesanya comfortably defeated Robert Whittaker on Saturday night to retain his middleweight title at UFC 271 in Houston, Texas.
Over 16,000 fans packed into the Toyota Center to watch a middleweight title rematch almost three years in the making, which was preceded by hometown heavyweight Derrick Lewis’ hotly anticipated scrap with Tai Tuivasa
Round 2 began with more of leg kicks. But it was Whittaker who had the crowd oohing and ahhing. A check lead punch landed on nearly consecutive exchanges. Adesanya took both, reset, and continued to march. Whittaker then completed a takedown, but Adesanya used the cage to get to his feet. Hard leg kicks from Adesanya and simultaneous-landing jabs were the most significant strikes for the rest of the round.
