Undefeated heavyweight contender Fabio Wardley turned in a memorable performance earlier today (Sat., Oct. 28, 2023) live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, finishing rival David Adeleye with a barrage of strikes in the seventh round.
This co-main event was scheduled for this exact reason. Both Wardley and Adeleye were undefeated and capable of delivering massive damage inside of the ring. The PPV main card had already produced three knockout finishes so this matchup needed to deliver.
Luckily, it did. Wardley was the betting favorite and showed why early and often. He usually gets busted up and needs to fight back for a finish, but the English contender was in control from the opening bell. Even as emotions ran high after the two teams brawled on stage back in September, Wardley rose to the occasion.
In the seventh, Wardley stung Adeleye with a huge combination off the break that sent him crashing to the canvas. Adeleye barely beat the count only to have Wardley unload massive punches in bunches to force the TKO stoppage. It was pretty decisive.
Check out the final moments in the above video player.
After the fight was waved off Adeleye was visibly upset in thinking the stoppage was too early. He approached the referee, pushed him away, and then punched him in the stomach. It wasn’t a hard punch, but any contact is bad contact in this situation. There was only about 15 seconds left on the clock so maybe the referee could have let the fight go a little bit longer, but Adeleye likely just landed himself a suspension along with his first career loss.
Check out the referee altercation below:
David Adeleye pushed the ref and hit him with a body shot because disagreed with the stoppage
pic.twitter.com/LLABCzAkoR— MMA Mania (@mmamania) October 28, 2023
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