Israel Adesanya continues his reign as the undisputed middleweight champion after he defeated number one contender, Robert Whittaker, in the UFC 271 headliner. Adesanya mainly relied on his reach advantage to keep Whittaker from landing any big shots and, although Whittaker had some success with taking Adesanya to the ground multiple times, it was not enough. All 3 judges scored the contest in favor of Adesanya with scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46. Both fighters gave each other mutual respect after the fight, which was great for fans to see as both men have now shared the octagon with each other twice now. However, Whittaker, visibly heartbroken after losing the title for a second time, stated at the post fight press conference that while he thought he won the closely contested bout, he planned to come back better than ever and work his way back to a potential trilogy fight with Adesanya. As for Adesanya, he talked about wanting to have three title defenses this year, stating that he wanted to lap the division like current welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, is doing.
As for the co-main event, Tai Tuivasa landed the biggest win of his career when he knocked out the number 3 ranked heavyweight, Derrick Lewis, with an elbow directly to the jaw. Tuivasa, who was the underdog going into the fight, lost the first round to Lewis and was stunned several times by Lewis’s heavy strikes, but he managed to rally and finish Lewis in the second round. A new fan favorite fighter for sure, Tuivasa spoke about his journey as a UFC fighter, mentioning how he was almost cut from the company in 2019 as he was on a three fight losing streak. Now, with five straight wins in a row by knockout, Tuivasa just solidified himself as a top five heavyweight contender, and he might only be a few fights away from a title shot if he keeps his win streak up.
Finally, in a potential title eliminator bout between Jared Cannonier and Derrick Brunson, Cannonier came out on top after knocking out Brunson in the second round. The fight started in Brunson’s favor, with him using his wrestling skills to take Cannonier down multiple times in the first round. However, towards the end of the second, Cannonier clipped Brunson, stunning him. Cannonier then returned the favor by taking Brunson to the ground, where he finished him off with vicious ground and pound elbows. In his post fight interview, Cannonier called out to Dana White, president of the UFC, and demanded to be next for the title. When asked if Cannonier was next at the post fight press conference, White stated that it was an awesome fight and that he was probably next. When Israel Adesanya was asked about Cannonier as his next opponent, Adesanya was receptive towards the idea, saying that he wanted “fresh meat.” It also makes sense since Cannonier is the only fighter in the top five middleweights who has not fought Adesanya yet.