In what might come as a surprise to many, Mike Beltran scored the fifth round in favor of Israel Adesanya
Poor judging has plagued the combat sports world for a long time and it looks like the main event of UFC 271 was almost a victim to it today.
The UFC 271 main event featured rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker, which was 681 days in the making.
Although Robert lost the last fight and belt by knockout the last time, he showed up an improved version of himself for the rematch. Adesanya’s seamless flow and barrage of attacks was in full display in the first round managing to drop Whittaker once.
The second round was fairly even, although Izzy’s head movement was a sight to behold. Having had great initial success with the outside calf kick, Adesanya kept putting out what was a clinical display up until Whittaker started grappling with him.
Although he could not capitalize on the takedowns and back control, he managed to win some of the later rounds in what was mostly a kickboxing point affair.
Mike Beltran hands Israel Adesanya a 10 in what was Robert Whittaker’s best round
The decision did not come as a surprise for many as Adesanya coasted his way to victory, however judge Mike Beltran’s scorecard was alarming. Fifth round was clearly Whittaker’s best round, in which he took down Izzy multiple times and even landed one of the hardest punches of the clash.
MMA fighters and fans have been quite vocal about the need to eliminate loose ends in judging blunders but it hasn’t been too effective so far. UFC president Dana White has spoken on this issue several times in the past and expressed his concern for fighter’s fate being left in the hands of judges.
Israel Adesanya will most likely go on to fight Jared Cannonier in his fifth title defense.
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