Israel Adesanya and teammate Alexander Volkanovski shone at UFC 276 on Saturday night, with both men retaining their titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In the main event, Adesanya was largely untroubled by Jared Cannonier in easing to a decision win, remaining middleweight champion and unbeaten in the division with the victory. Some had predicted that Adesanya’s versatile striking game and ring IQ would prove too much for the powerful but perhaps one-dimensional Cannonier, and that proved to be the case as the “Last Stylebender” filled out 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 scorecards.
In the co-main event, Volkanovski – who trains with Adesanya at City Kickboxing – made it a clean sweep in his trilogy with Max Holloway. Volkanovski outpointed Holloway in 2019 to win the featherweight title before replicating the feat in 2020 to retain the gold. Many fans disputed the Australian’s second victory over Hawaiian Holloway, but the champion left no doubt on Saturday, winning all five rounds on all three judges’ scorecards. The numbers reflected a masterful showing of striking offence and defence from Volkanovski, who made Holloway look like a UFC newcomer rather than a fighter seen by some as the greatest featherweight of all time. Re-live updates and see all results from UFC 276, below.
