Mark Jacobs 
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya won a comfortable, if unspectacular, unanimous decision over Jared Cannonier to defend his title Saturday night in the main event of UFC 276 from Las Vegas. One of the most brilliant counter fighters mixed martial arts has ever seen, Adesanya is at his best against hard charging foes who press him but is less comfortable when he has to lead the action.
Cannonier made Adesanya lead for much of the fight Saturday but failed to put together enough offense to make the match really competitive. Adesanya switched from southpaw to orthodox repeatedly, managing to spear Cannonier with jabs from either side to control the bout’s action.
The co-main event saw featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski leave little doubt who the better fighter was as he defeated Max Holloway for the third time scoring a shutout on all three scorecards. Volkanovski is on a different level athletically than the rest of the division looking both faster and stronger than everyone else. Holloway seemed a step behind as Volkanovski darted around him and caught him coming in with punches. A right hand in the second round opened a deep cut over Holloway’s eye that gushed blood throughout the match.
Mixed martial arts, Mma, News, Ufc
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