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Israel Adesanya defended his UFC middleweight title for the fifth time Saturday night with a one-sided, unanimous decision victory over Jared Cannonier, but his clinical approach to the fight had fans at T-Mobile Arena booing before the end of the bout.
After the victory, Adesanya told reporters in a press conference that he had an “off-night.” But he didn’t make apologies for his performance, and instead fired back at the critics for not appreciating his accomplishments.
“F*** them,” Adesanya said. “They’ve been here since 3 p.m., they’re all drunk, they don’t know what real fighting is. I’ve said this, the greats, they all get to this point.
“[George St. Pierre], one of the GOATs, and people would boo him, and I’m like, ‘What the f*** are you guys watching? You dumb f****. [Muhammad] Ali, Floyd Mayweather, same thing. You get to this point where, like, you’re so great, people just want to see you fall. They just want to see you fall, no matter what. If it’s not like a show-out, spectacular performance, then it’s like, ah, he’s not even that good.”
Adesanya, 32, now has victories over five of the top six ranked middleweight contenders, including a pair of wins each against No. 1 Robert Whittaker and No. 3 Marvin Vettori. Also on Saturday night, No. 4 Sean Strickland was brutally knocked out by rapidly rising contender Alex Pereira, who appears set to challenge Adesanya next.
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