At last night’s UFC 271 event, Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision. The champions received three rounds in favor of two judges, while one judge saw Adesanya as the superior fighter throughout four rounds. While it’s difficult to argue that Izzy didn’t deserve to win, it’s also hard to say that he didn’t earn his victory.
The UFC’s president, Dana White, was one of the first to contradict Adesanya’s comments. “I believe he was superior in the three rounds,” White said. “Adesanya rated his performance a seven out of ten, but I think it could have been much better.” He nevertheless won and got off very lightly, or almost no significant damage at all.
Adesanya now faces new challenges, and Jared Cannonier is virtually certain to take his place. According to Izzy, he was looking forward to “new meat” because he had previously won the other four top five fights (Vettori, Whittaker). The impression is that after Cannonier and perhaps Strickland, there are no more relevant challengers; Adesanya may soon literally sweep the category. Many believe one unranked fighter poses the greatest danger in the class.
Of course, the discussion is about Khamzat Chimaev. Chechen with a Swedish passport is currently ranked 11th in the welterweight category, and he has previously fought in the middleweight division (2-0). Despite having made two appearances at middleweight (2-0), Khamzat is not presently ranked among the top 15. It appears that Khamzat was unimpressed by Adesanya’s performance today, as his “tweet” reflects this.
”Stylebender is easy money for me. His wrestling is 0. “I will kill him in the first round,” Chimaev wrote, adding “emoji” which is definitely one of his favorites.
@stylebender easy money for me, 0 wrestling. 1 round I’m gonna kill him🤪
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) February 13, 2022
At the press conference following UFC 271, one of the journalists read Izzy a “tweet,” but Adesanya gave no indication. The champion simply said, “Okay,” and moved on to new inquiries. Chimaev is still a long way from challenging for the middleweight title, and Adesanya isn’t likely to pay much attention to him. However, if Chimaev maintains his current level of success, other high-level middleweights will soon be forced to pay attention to him as well.
