Reigning UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya took time out of his visit to London this week – to walk out with undisputed WBO cruiserweight titleholder, Lawrence Okolie – alongside former heavyweight kingpin, Anthony Joshua.
Israel Adesanya, the undisputed middleweight champion of the UFC, headlined earlier this month at UFC 271 – scoring a second career win over former champion, Robert Whittaker in a unanimous decision victory. The victory marked Adesanya’s fourth successful defense of the undisputed title.
Israel Adesanya climbed to the #2 rank in the official UFC pound-for-pound rankings earlier this month
Expected to face middleweight contender, Jared Cannonier next, the City Kickboxing staple has outlined his intentions to potentially return to the Octagon before the close of June, if not as soon as July.
Appearing at The O2 Arena tonight, Adesanya, along with the aforenoted former heavyweight boxing champion, Joshua, walked out with WBO cruiserweight titleholder, Okolie – with the UFC middleweight gold holder raising the Nigerian flag behind Okolie.
Anthony Joshua and Israel Adesanya accompany Lawrence Okolie on his ring-walk
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Featuring against Poland native, Michal Cieslak, Okolie managed to land a unanimous decision victory over the challenger over the course of 12 rounds, lodging his second defence of the WBO crown following a September knockout victory against Dilan Prasovic.
Before his victory over Whittaker, Adesanya managed to score a trio of title defenses against Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa, and Yoel Romero.
In his sole professional loss, Adesanya suffered a unanimous decision defeat against former light heavyweight best, Jan Blachowicz in a title fight back in March of last year – as the former attempted to become a two-weight gold holder held simultaneously.
As for Watford native, Joshua, the former WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO world heavyweight champion headlined a September event on home soil against former cruiserweight gold holder, Oleksandr Usyk – suffering a unanimous decision loss.
The defeat came as Joshua’s second professional off the back of a stunning upset knockout defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019 in his first outing in the United States.