Israel Adesanya’s record came to an abrupt end after defeating Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 259 heavyweight championship in Las Vegas.
The Nigerian mixed martial artist endured his first professional defeat in combat sport after bowing to his Polish opponent in the fifth round by unanimous decision. All three judges gave Blachowicz a scorecard of 49–46, 49–45, 49–45 at the end of the meeting. However, while responding to the setback, the 31-year-old insisted that the fight did not go as planned, adding that he was unable to sleep before the fight. UFC told the ringside about BT Sport:
“No, not exactly because I thought I was going to win and you know, I couldn’t sleep last night and instead of doing wines I was doing lines just to stay up.
“They got me one of these (bottle of wine) and I probably should have had it maybe I would have slept better. “Yes it didn’t go the way I wanted it but dare to be great, you know the critics are on the sidelines but I am the one putting my life on the line.”