Sean Strickland recorded a shock unanimous decision win against Isreal Adeanya to become the new UFC middleweight champion at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
All three judges scored the fight 49-46 in favour of the American fighter who now improves his record to 28 wins and five defeats.
For Adesanya, it is his third loss bringing his record to three losses and 24 wins.
Strickland dropped Adesanya late in the first round, landing a clean one-two which sent the champion to the ground and quickly pounced.
Adesanya recovered quickly from the late flurry in the first round, dealt with the pressure of Strickland far better and landed a big right hand towards the end of the second round.
Strickland upped the pressure in the third round and landed some huge shots which saw Adesanya denied the chance to get his shots off.
In the fourth round Strickland put in another big performance which Adesanya had no answers for.
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