UFC 276: Israel Adesanya beats Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision

Israel Adesanya lands a kick to the head of Jared Cannonier during his title defence. Photo / Getty

Israel Adesanya remains the king of the middleweights.

Making his fifth defence of the undisputed UFC middleweight championship, the Kiwi made no mistake against hard-hitting American Jared Cannonier, putting on a clinical display of striking to claim a resounding victory on the scorecards.

Adesanya won all five rounds on two of the judges' cards, while the other gave him four of the five. With the victory, Adesanya improved his record to 23-1 and remains unbeaten at middleweight.

Heading into the bout, Adesanya had made note of his excitement of getting to fight a new opponent after back-to-back rematches, and he credited Cannonier and their team with the game plan they brought into the fight.

While a dominant fight, it wasn't one that pleased all the fans, with many in attendance leaving the arena before the final round was over, given Adesanya was clearly up on the cards and it didn't look like either fighter would finish it before the final bell.

While Adesanya's performance was a technical display, it followed the featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, which was five rounds of all-action fighting.

Adesanya said he felt like he had an off night.

"Still, I still f***ed him up" Adesanya said.

"It was in the fight when I couldn't find my power shots. The initiators – the jabs, the leg kicks – they were working, but I couldn't find my power shots. He was adjusting well. It wasn't just me versus him; it was his team versus my team, which I was also looking forward to.

"He's a formidable fighter. I called it ages ago and he showed it."

After making his walk to the cage in homage to WWE superstar The Undertaker – wearing a wide-brimmed hat and carrying an urn with 'Jared' written on it, walking slowly to the eerie gong of the bells in The Undertaker's theme music, Adesanya got to work.

There was good action both ways in the opening round as Adesanya looked to pepper Cannonier with leg kicks early before opening up a bit more, while Cannonier looked for power. As he has done so often, Adesanya kept Cannonier guessing with his feints and as the round went on he was able to pick his shots at will.

The second round continued in that vein; Adesanya had Cannonier frozen with feints and was able to land with volume. Cannonier did well to stifle what Adesanya called his "second phase", with Adesanya able to land with some power, but never allowed to follow up.

Cannonier changed things up a touch in the third round, looking to use his grappling to change the way the fight was going. While he was able to put hands on Adesanya, he was unable to take the champion to the mat – finishing the night unsuccessful on his four takedown attempts.

Still, the change in tactic worked for Cannonier as he was able to limit what Adesanya could throw at him. That was as good as it got for the challenger, though.

Adesanya continued to pepper Cannonier on all levels, with an array of strikes through the fourth and fifth rounds to close out the win.

Fellow Kiwi Brad Riddell was also in action on the card, but was stung early by Jalin Turner and submitted within the first minute of the bout.

All the action as it happened as Israel Adesanya took on Jared Cannonier in UFC 276