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Dwayne Johnson, aka 'The Rock', has heaped praise on Israel Adesanya following the latter's successful title defense against Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 271.
Adesanya relied on his precise striking and showcased tremendous takedown defense to outpoint Whittaker on the judges' scorecards. But out of everything 'The Last Stylebender' put on display, it was his endurance that wowed Johnson the most.
Moments after Adesanya was declared the winner via unanimous decision, 'The Rock' took to Twitter to congratulate 'The Last Stylebender.' The WWE Hall-of-Famer wrote:
"Damn!! Incredible to see Izzy only breathing thru his nose midway thru 4th. Not even sitting down between rounds. Discipline. Control. Both these guys. #UFC271"
Check out Johnson's tweet below:
After being brutally knocked out by Adesanya in 2019, Whittaker showed significant improvement by staying competitive throughout the fight. However, the Australian still fell short as he was unable to mount any significant offense to seriously hurt 'The Last Stylebender'.
Adesanya now has two victories over Whittaker after notching his fourth successful title defense of the UFC middleweight crown. The scores were 49-46, 48-47, 48-47 in favor of the champ.
Johnson has long been a supporter of the the Nigerian-born UFC superstar. Last June, he also gave Adesanya a shoutout after his dominant performance against Marvin Vettori in the headliner of UFC 263.
On Instagram, 'The Rock' posted a video of Adesanya's post-fight interview with the caption:
"Proud of you Uso and like we talked about, we never just want to play in the game - we want to change the way the game is played."
Watch the clip below:
Israel Adesanya puts the UFC middleweight division on notice
Israel Adesanya has completely wiped out the UFC middleweight division after defeating arguably the biggest threat to his reign.
In his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, Adesanya stated that he's aware of the challenge Whittaker posed but insinuated that he's ready for whoever he fights next. He said:
"I knew he was going to bring everything cause last time I took everything away from him. So he had nothing to lose. Like I said, I’m the champ, you want it, come get it."
Watch Israel Adesanya's post-fight interview below:
Jared Cannonier, who scored a statement win on the main card of UFC 271, is believed to be next in line for the title shot. 'The Killa Gorilla' mounted a come-from-behind TKO win over Derek Brunson to rack up his fifth win in his last six outings.
