Adesanya defeats Cannonier, calls out Alex Pereira

Israel Adesanya retained his middleweight title at the UFC 267 with victory over Jarrod Cannonier in the early hours of Sunday.

The Judges scored the fight (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) as Adesanya retained the UFC middleweight championship.

Speaking after the bout, the Style bender gave kudos to the challenger, before calling out bitter rival, Alex Pereira who holds two wins over him, albeit in the kickboxing ranks.

“He had an excellent game plan; it was really hard to get my follow-ups going, my second phases going,” Adesanya admitted.

“You know who’s next, (Alex Pereira), the first time, I told you, was an error on my part. Next time I put you on skates, you’re going to be frozen,” He said.

The Nigerian-born New Zealander has now successfully defended his title five times and holds a perfect record of 22-1, with his only loss coming during an unsuccessful step up to light heavyweight, where he lost to then-champion Jan Blachowicz.