Who did Israel Adesanya take the UFC middleweight belt from?

After signing with the UFC in 2018, Israel Adesanya compiled a five-fight win streak to earn a shot at UFC gold. He took on Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 for the interim middleweight title, winning via unanimous decision. The Nigerian-born Kiwi then became the undisputed champion with his TKO win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 243.

Adesanya's interim-title winning performance remains arguably the hardest fight of his career at middleweight. Gastelum pushed him to the absolute limit in their five-round war, which is considered one of the greatest UFC middleweight fights ever. 'The Last Stylebender' ultimately earned the judges' nod to win the belt, setting up a title unification bout with Whittaker.

In his bout against Robert Whittaker, which went down at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, Israel Adesanya looked phenomenal. After a slow opening few minutes, Adesanya dropped his Aussie counterpart in the dying seconds of the first round. Whittaker was saved by the bell.

Adesanya finished the job in the second frame, knocking out Whittaker with a clean left hook.

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Robert Whittaker jokingly hopes Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira hurt each other badly at UFC 281

Israel Adesanya will look to defend his middleweight title for the sixth time when he locks horns with former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281. Robert Whittaker, who has two losses to Adesanya, recently gave his take on the matchup.

Whittaker is widely considered the second-best middleweight in the UFC. 'The Reaper' holds the No.1 spot in the rankings, and like the reigning champion, has beaten most of the top-ranked contenders in the division. There's a strong competitive rivalry between the Aussie and Adesanya, who are considered a level or two above the rest of the middleweight contenders.

Jokingly revealing that he hopes both Adesanya and Pereira engage in an all-out war at UFC 281, the former champion said:

“I hope they both hurt each other extremely. Like bad. I hope they never... I hope they fight so hard and they hurt each other so bad that they never come back the same."

Watch Robert Whittaker discuss the UFC 281 headliner below:

Whittaker will look to return to title contention when he takes on Paulo Costa at UFC 284 next year.