5 most explosive moments from UFC 271: Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2

#2. Jared Cannonier captures a UFC title shot with his knockout of Derek Brunson

Jared Cannonier should find himself fighting for the UFC middleweight title after destroying Derek Brunson last night

Outside of the main event last night, the fight with the highest stakes was undoubtedly Jared Cannonier’s middleweight clash with Derek Brunson. With both men on excellent runs, the winner was always likely to earn a shot at the UFC middleweight title – particularly with a good showing.

In the end, Cannonier came out on top. While it wasn’t a flawless victory, ‘The Killa Gorilla’ should definitely be next in line to face Israel Adesanya after dispatching of Brunson violently.

Early on, it definitely didn’t look like the fight would go that way. Brunson looked like the sharper fighter, and hurt Cannonier twice with big punches. He also took him down and came with a rear-naked choke at the end of the first round.

However, despite starting the second round brightly with another takedown, Brunson appeared to tire dramatically midway through the stanza. Suddenly, ‘The Killa Gorilla’ began to take over, hurting him badly with seemingly every strike that landed, particularly his elbow shots.

The end came as Cannonier secured a takedown following a brutal flurry. He then began to bounce Brunson’s head off the canvas with some genuinely savage elbows. Quite how referee Kerry Hatley didn’t stop this one earlier was anyone’s guess. The fact that Brunson’s corner actually threw in the towel told its own story.

Overall, this was an explosive and violent finish from Cannonier. While nothing he did here suggests that he could beat Adesanya, he definitely did enough to earn his shot at the champ.

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#1. Tai Tuivasa weathers the storm to turn the lights out on Derrick Lewis

Tai Tuivasa delivered the goods to take out Derrick Lewis in a bit of a shocker

The fight at UFC 271 that was always the most likely to produce an explosive finish was Derrick Lewis’ meeting with fellow heavyweight slugger Tai Tuivasa. To that degree, the clash certainly met expectations.

The two big men went toe-to-toe from the off. While the fight did slow down at points due to some excessive clinching, for the most part, this brawl lived up to the hype.

The big surprise came in who won, and also the manner of his victory. Most fans figured that whichever fighter landed the big shot first would come out on top. Somehow, Tuivasa was actually able to absorb Lewis’ shots and fire back with heavy blows of his own.

In the second round, those heavy blows paid off. After being wobbled by a big shot from ‘The Black Beast’, ‘Bam Bam’ came back with some punches of his own that left Lewis on wobbly legs.

Lewis attempted to slow things down by clinching. This time, however, Tuivasa met him with a solid elbow to the head. That was enough to switch his lights off instantly, sending him faceplanting to the ground.

Does this win make Tuivasa a title contender? Given his clear limitations it probably shouldn’t. Then again, Lewis only fought for the title two fights ago – meaning ‘Bam Bam’ is likely to end up in the top five at worst come next week.

That alone makes it the biggest victory of his young career by some distance. More to the point, it was easily the most explosive moment from last night’s show.