Israel Adesanya is the interim-middleweight champion.
But it was not easy.
The Nigerian-born Kiwi had to dig deep on his way to a unanimous decision win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 in Atlanta.
Gastelum took the first-round disrupting Adesanya’s movement and dropping the Kiwi with a left hand.
WHAT A SEQUENCE!!!#UFC236 pic.twitter.com/LeT74Kz6zn
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
Adesanya took back control in the second-round dropping Gastelum while he started to get back into his usual groove.
Adesanya continued to disrupt Gastelum’s movement with inside leg kicks, kicks to the body and the uncanny ability to slide just out of the way of Gastelum’s power punches.
WHAT. A. FIGHT!!!! #UFC236 pic.twitter.com/D1E1dwq3GV
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
Adesanya completely dominated Gastelum in the fifth and looked like he would finish the fight before the bell finally rung.
All judges scored the fight 48-46.
The win sets up a trans-Tasman unification fight between Adesanya and current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker
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