An attempt by the Nigeria-born Isreal Adesanya to become a double champion in the UFC became futile on early Sunday morning.
Jan Blachowicz beat the recently undefeated Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) to retain his light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 259.
Adesanya, who is the UFC middleweight champion, was attempting to become just the fifth fighter in the history of the championship to win the title back-to-back.
The loss is the first in the career life of Adesanya’s professional MMA which brings his record to 20-1.
He has maintained unbeaten at middleweight where he was the current UFC champion.
In significant strikes, Blachowicz had a 107-78, beating Adesanya in every round, including the 28-12 in the fifth. Two judges scored the final round 10-8 for Blachowicz.
Blachowicz (28-8) has won five in a row. He claimed the UFC light heavyweight title in beating Dominick Reyes by second-round TKO at UFC 253 in September.
Adesanya (20-1), a former champion kickboxer, won his first nine fights in the UFC before Saturday.
