LAS VEGAS – Israel Adesanya isn’t knocking himself for the lackluster main event at UFC 248 on Saturday – but he is knocking his opponent, Yoel Romero.
For five rounds, Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) engaged in a low-action fight. When the dust settled, the fans booed some more – they had been booing regularly from the first minute onward – and Adesanya retained his middleweight title by unanimous decision at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
At a news conference after the event, Adesanya admitted it wasn’t the kind of fight he wanted to be involved in. But he wasn’t too hard on himself considering he didn’t think he was to blame.
“It’s not the fight I wanted to have,” Adesanya said. “I had a different vision for how this fight was going to end. It takes two to tango. I can’t force a guy to fight. I can force a guy to make mistakes a little bit by exposing his legs later on. For me, if a guy stands there for the first two minutes and just has his hands up …
“Am I supposed to risk my belt and get clipped by him, which I did? I realized that’s a bad move. I went back to what I do best, which is pick people apart. That was really bizarre. I might well have used a training dummy at my gym as my sparring partner. It was just really bizarre because I was expecting more. These guys are crafty, these old guys.”
Adesanya admitted he lost respect for Romero because of the performance. The champ indicated he expected a dog fight against Romero, but instead got a lackluster staring contest.
“Yeah, it was anti-climatic. I love this (expletive), man,” Adesanya said. “I love to fight. … You’ve seen my resume. I don’t have boring fights. I’ve seen people who want to fight. I called out the guy who supposedly everyone is scared of. I’m like, ‘What’s so scary about him?’ I kicked his (expletive) leg. I kicked it over and over again. It was not steel. He’s human and he acts like he’s (not). I definitely lost respect for him. I definitely lost respect for what I thought was going to be a really difficult challenge to overcome.”
Prior to Adesanya’s appearance at the press conference, Romero took the stage to field questions from reporters. Romero said it was Adesanya’s fault the fight was boring, saying the champion was unhittable because he wasn’t fighting.
“What else is he going to say?” Adesanya said. “How else is he going to sleep at night? He lost his last chance at gold. Even in the fifth round, you attack. I’ve seen the (Kelvin) Gastelum fight reference over and over again, but that’s because I really showed out in the fifth round.
“I knew I wanted that belt. I wanted it more. Show me I wanted it more. That belt was up for grabs, and I grabbed it. Show me you want the belt. Don’t just roll up there and do the bachata and the merengue and then (say), ‘Oh, come fight boy. Come fight.”
Israel Adesanya: UFC 248 doesn't impact legacy, but I definitely lost respect for Yoel Romero