Both defending champions successfully retained their titles at UFC 259 as light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz and women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes picked up significant victories at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
In the main event, Poland’s Blachowicz produced a controlled, calculated performance to hand middleweight champion Israel Adesanya the first defeat of his MMA career.
Blachowicz and Adesanya traded shots through the first three rounds, with the faster, sharper Adesanya appearing to edge the action heading into the championship rounds.
But Blachowicz, 38, switched gears in rounds four and five and turned to his wrestling as he took the 31-year-old to the canvas midway through each of the final two rounds, and didn’t let the Nigerian-born Kiwi back to his feet as he dominated the action on the canvas.
After the bout went the distance, the three octagonside judges each scored…