Israel Adesanya beats Anderson Silva by unanimous decision at UFC 234
Silva was declared victor by unanimous decision, but that was later overturned after he tested positive for drostanolone and androsterone.
The most risky moment for Adesanya came in the third round, when Silva launched into a flying knee attempt.
The three-round fight went the distance and Adesanya claimed the win via a unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27, 30-27.
MELBOURNE, Australia - An abdominal hernia has forced UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker out of his highly anticipated title defense against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234, just hours before doors opened at Rod Laver Arena. Adesanya has won five consecutive fights in the Octagon, tying him for the second-longest active winning streak in the middleweight division. "I showed up, traveled thousands and thousands of miles from home, made the weight". It's out of their hands, you know, sometimes it's not in their control.
'What they told me was that his colon and intestines had popped out, ' White said in the post-show press conference.
He also managed to take a shot at top ranked contender Kelvin Gastelum, who was walking around with a title on his shoulder all night while proclaiming that he was the new middleweight champion by default since Whittaker failed to compete on Saturday night.
On the broadcast, UFC President Dana White said that the promotion's doctors had never seen a situation like Whittaker's happen to someone as young as him and referred to it as a freak incident.
Gastelum wished Whittaker a speedy recovery.
"We have most of this year laid out already and I don't think one of those is to come back to Australia with a title fight", White said.
Meanwhile, Silva embraced the crowd following his hard fought loss and stated once again that he's not going anywhere except back to the gym to prepare for his next fight. "This is my heart".
On Saturday night, MMA Fighting reported that Ovince Saint Preux, who was scheduled to face Canadian Misha Cirkunov at UFC 235 on March 2 in Las Vegas, has withdrawn from the bout due to an injury.
"I think it's a very interesting fight, because the last fight was a no contest".