Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya comfortably defeated Robert Whittaker on Saturday night to retain his middleweight title at UFC 271 in Houston, Texas.
Over 16,000 fans packed into the Toyota Center to watch a middleweight title rematch almost three years in the making, which was preceded by hometown heavyweight Derrick Lewis’ hotly anticipated scrap with Tai Tuivasa.
Former WWE champion Booker T and social media star SteveWillDoIt were among the celebrities who opted to forgo Super Bowl celebrations in California to take in a massive night of fights.
And they were treated to an enthralling five-fight main card that included a striking masterclass from Bobby Green to beat Nasrat Haqparast.
Renato Moicano choked out Alexander Hernandez within two rounds of their meeting in the card’s opener after a fantastic back-and-forth bout.
Despite Adesanya winning their first meeting by way of a vicious knockout back in 2019, Whittaker had earned his rematch by way of three wins.
