Dana White ‘shocked’ at Yoel Romero’s weak challenge to Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 as he admits he ‘probably shouldn’t’ have staged fight
- Dana White was amazed at Yoel Romero’s challenge to Israel Adesanya’s title
- Adesanya beat Romero to defended his UFC middleweight title in Las Vegas
- The Kiwi won the title by beating Australian Robert Whittaker last October
UFC president Dana White believes Yoel Romero only has himself to blame after his unanimous decision defeat to Israel Adesanya at UFC 248.
In one of the most bizarre championship fights in the sport’s history, 30-year-old Adesanya defended his UFC middleweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight began in odd fashion with Romero, 42, standing still with his guard up in the middle of the octagon, with neither fighter landing a blow for the best part of the first two minutes.
UFC president Dana White was amazed by Yoel Romero’s weak challenge to Israel Adesanya
Adesanya defended his UFC middleweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
But Adesanya eventually went on to retain the belt he won at UFC 243 by beating Australian Robert Whittaker last October in Melbourne, and speaking after the fight White was left flabbergasted by Romero’s lack of application.
‘I’m shocked,’ White said. ‘Romero knew this was his last opportunity at a world championship.
‘I thought he was gonna come out like a bat out of hell, put tons of pressure on him, shoot takedowns, try to knock him out. He did literally none of that. If you’re Adesanya, he fought the smart fight.
The fight began in odd fashion with neither fighter landing a blow for almost two minutes
Adesanya retained his title though and White believes Romero has only himself to blame
‘You stay on the outside, he chopped that leg apart, and he picked his punches and did what he did. Romero did a lot of moving around and acting like he was trying to fight but he never really did.
‘Hindsight is 20/20. We probably shouldn’t have done that fight and we should have waited for [Paulo] Costa. Oh well, we did it.’
Just minutes after watching one of the greatest fights in UFC history between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the packed crowd got on the back of Romero.
Romero, a former Olympic gold medalist, previously lost a fight for the interim title to Whittaker in June 2018.
The crowd saw one of the greatest UFC fights between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Just minutes after watching one of the greatest fights in UFC history between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the packed crowd got on the back of Romero.
He replied by landing a flurry of blows, but that spurred Adesanya into action and by the time the fifth round came around, the high amount of leg kicks delivered by Adesanya to Romero’s right leg began to take its toll.
Adesanya is expected to defend his title against undefeated Brazilian Costa later this year.
The high amount of leg kicks delivered by Adesanya to Romero’s right leg took its toll