By: Stephen Hardy-Delaney
Crikey mate!
“The Down Under”, and the UFC middleweight division just got shook up this past Saturday in Melbourne, Australia, as the UFC’s Middleweight Championship was on the line at UFC 243. UFC Middleweight Champion Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker took on the Interim UFC Middleweight Champion Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya and let’s just say these two men no longer hold those titles.
In what was a huge build-up to this fight since Adesanya won his interim belt in an all-out war against Kelvin Gastelum, this fight would also initiate the New Zealand and the Australian rivalry as the Australian raised Robert Whittaker would face his neighbor in New Zealand raised Israel Adesanya.
Whittaker would make his UFC return after a year-plus long hiatus; his last performance being an all-out slugfest against former Olympic Silver Medalist wrestler, Yoel Romero in what was a rematch for the ages at UFC 225 in June 2018. This would be the Last Stylebender’s third fight of the year defeating the likes of former middleweight king Anderson Silva in February, Kelvin Gastelum in April, and now Whittaker in October. Whittaker was initially slated to headline UFC 234 and defend his belt against Gastelum but had to pull out last minute due to a hernia and a collapsed and twisted bowel that required emergency surgery. This injury would then lead to Adesanya and Anderson Silva serving as the main event of UFC 234.
Now, getting to the nitty-gritty, this past Saturday night we saw a new superstar emerge in the UFC who was considered a superstar even before this fight ever came to fruition. You know that thing called the “it” factor? Well, Israel Adesanya has just that and more. Have you ever seen a whole dance routine serve as a walkout in the UFC before? I can’t remember one, but Israel Adesanya gave us that and more with a spectacular performance and a left hand that sealed the deal for him to win and take the throne of the UFC’s middleweight division.
Robert Whittaker came out more aggressive than usual trying to land the haymakers early while Adesanya remained poised and used his precision to connect more precisely on Whittaker. Adesanya would give Whittaker a huge wakeup call at the end of the first round where Adesanya would land a huge uppercut that dropped Whittaker to the canvas where if the round had just a few more seconds the fight would’ve been stopped, but nonetheless Whittaker was saved by the bell and he lived to see the 2nd round, but that’s all he would see and he didn’t even get to see all of it as Whittaker would take a solid left-hand right to the jaw in a barrage of punches thrown by the Last Stylebender in a dangerous exchange. Referee Marc Goddard would go on to stop the contest at 3:33 of the 2nd round declaring the winner by knockout and new UFC Middleweight Champion of the world, Israel Adesanya who after finishing Whittaker would go on to entertain us even more with a never before seen celebration, gave love to his family, and went on to flip the double-birds at the No. 1 middleweight contender, Paulo Costa who has been clamoring for a shot at the title after defeating Yoel Romero at UFC 241 this past August and says the new middleweight king has never seen anything like him or felt power quite like his and Adesanya right away called him out and wants to shut him up once and for all.
But Adesanya has been clamoring for one man and that one man also has an undefeated record, the man who many have tried to defeat but have fallen short, many who have suffered at the hands of this dominating fighter, the man who’s cleaned out the light heavyweight division, and has crushed the dreams of everybody who’s crossed his path, and that man…is Jon Jones.
Loading ...