Israel Adesanya retains the UFC middleweight title by defeating Whittaker.

At UFC 271 in Houston, Texas, Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker to retain his middleweight title.



In front of 6,000 fans at the Toyota Center, the incumbent UFC middleweight champion fought Whittaker for five rounds and won a unanimous decision in his fourth consecutive title defense.

The final scores were 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 for Adesanya, who improved to 22-1 in his career with the win.

"I knew he was going to bring everything since last time I took everything away from him," Adesanya remarked after his latest victory. "As a result, he had nothing to lose. As I have stated, I am the champion. Come get it if you want it."

Adesanya won the first three rounds, but Whittaker won the final two, according to judges Jacob Montalvo and Doug Crosby. All bar the second round, which Judge Mike Beltran awarded to Whittaker, had Adesanya winning.

According to UFC Stats, Adesanya outlanded Whittaker 79-59 in important strikes. Whittaker, however, landed more important head punches, 38-36, while Adesanya outlanded Whittaker in leg strikes, 29-13. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Whittaker landed four takedowns against Adesanya, tying Marvin Vettori for the most by any opponent in the UFC.

In ESPN's MMA pound-for-pound rankings, Adesanya was ranked No. 2 while Whittaker was ranked No. 9. Adesanya was the middleweight champion, while Whittaker was the runner-up.

Adesanya (22-1) won the championship by knocking out Whittaker in the second round at UFC 243 in October 2019.