Again, the Nigerian Sports Ministry has been thrown into wild jubilation as Israel Adesanya, a Nigerian-born New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, and kickboxer has cruised to the fourth title defence of his middleweight UFC belt against Jared Cannonier in a fight that sometimes looked one-sided.
According to official reports, the fight ended in a unanimous decision with the judges scoring the bout 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 for the Last Stylebender.
Recall that Adesanya’s last fight also ended in a unanimous decision win over rival Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 in February.
In a post-victory speech, Adesanya said “He had an excellent game plan; it was really hard to get my follow-ups going, my second phases going”.
The win is Adesanya’s twelfth consecutive victory as a middleweight in the UFC, only one behind the record set by UFC legend Anderson Silva, as the Last Stylebender continues to cement his legacy as one of the greatest to ever step foot in the Octagon.
In a swift reaction, Nigeria’s Sports minister Sunday Dare congratulated Adesanya, on another successful title defence.
The Minister, in a statement, lauded Adesanya for being a worthy youth ambassador for the country.
Dare said Nigerians were proud of Adesanya and another Nigerian UFC champion, Kamaru Usman.
He said “We are proud of Adesanya and Usman and we will continue to celebrate them because they always identify with Nigeria, they always proudly carry our flag everywhere they go. They are our global icons. We believe they have many more successes ahead of them”.
