UFC 271 proved to the world that Israel Adesanya is still the best middleweight in the promotion as he beat Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision in the main event to retain his UFC Middleweight gold. Meanwhile, Tai Tuivasa surprised the MMA world with a huge elbow knockout that took out UFC’s KO king, Derrick Lewis. Jared Cannonier stamped his place as the UFC Middleweight title contender by elbowing Derrick Brunson.
Today at Man’s Life, we will take you through some of the highlighting events from UFC 271:
▶ Moicano submits Hernandez in round 2
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In the second fight of the night, Renato Moicano defeated Alexander Hernandez via Rear Naked choke after just 1:23 of round 2. The fight started off with Moicano being the slicker fighter but soon the fight moved to the ground. Once Moicano took Hernandez down, he had the fight but Hernandez was able to get up and landed some offense on Moicano’s feet from clinch position before the round ended. The second round started with a boxing approach from both the fighters but it was Moicano who has landing harder and cleaner. As a result, Hernandez went for a takedown but Moicano sprawled and took his back and locked in the RNC with Hernandez tapping out.
▶ “Fresh Meat” for Izzy in Middleweight
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Before UFC 271, Adesanya asked Cannonier to finish Brunson as he was looking for a new Middleweight title contender or as the champ refers to as – Fresh Meat. Cannonier did exactly what the champ asked for as he knocked out Derek Brunson in a brutal fashion. The first round was dominated by Brunson with the fighter locking in a choke before the round got over but Cannonier’s power took over from round 2 as he dropped Brunson to the canvas and battered him until the towel was thrown from the corner.
▶ Bam Bam Elbow
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Tai ‘Bam Bam’ Tuivasa shocked the MMA world after knocking out Derrick Lewis with a vicious elbow. The 28-year-old Australian picked up his fifth straight knockout win but this one was the most impressive. Tuicasa took Lewis’ best shots and never backed down, showing his willingness to welcome danger. Lewis tried his best in the opening rounds with multiple takedowns and heavy offense from top position but it just wasn’t enough. In round 2, Tuivasa lured Lewis into a slugfest and deposited The Black Beast face down on the canvas following a standing elbow to get his hand raised as the winner.
▶ Robert Whittaker – so close but yet so far
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I’d like to quote Michael Chandler’s tweet that said, “ A dominant champ just needs to stand there, throw a few shots per round and he will not lose unless he gets caught & he will always get the night. Izzy got paid in this last contract… go FIGHT, don’t you dare spar.”
This is exactly what happened in the main event of UFC 271. Whittaker had a rough start as he went down early in round 1 but slowly picked up his momentum over the next four rounds, landing 4.74 significant strikes per minute, most of them being his hard-left jabs, and also secured 4 takedowns which no other fighter could do to Adesanya. Whereas Adesanya just kept landing leg-kicks and frequent body strikes over the five rounds. Despite Whittaker giving it all, it was Adesanya’s hand that got raised as he took home a surprising unanimous decision victory with all the judges scoring in favor of the champion (48-47,48-47,49-46) marking The Last StyleBender’s fourth successful title defense.
[Featured Image Credit: Kombat Daily]
Shashank Iyer