Israel Adesanya showed he belongs among the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA when he defended his UFC middleweight championship against a fellow top-10 fighter, ex-champ Robert Whittaker, and won a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 271.
The problem for Adesanya, who was No. 2 in the ESPN rankings going into the bout, was that there was little opportunity for upward movement. The fighter ranked above him, UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, wasn’t going anywhere. So Adesanya stayed put in the latest men’s rankings. He even fell one spot in the top 10s of two voters on the ESPN panel.
“Pound-for-pound rankings, you’re always splitting hairs,” Brett Okamoto said. “We’re talking about the very best handful…
