The UFC 248 main event was a flop.
Fans weren’t pleased. Not even Dana White would defend the performance of his fighters. White took aim at Yoel Romero (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) after losing to Israel Adesanya (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC). The crowd booed loudly through the 25-minute fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Adesanya retained his middleweight title by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46), but he and White quickly looked forward to the next fight. Adesanya is ready for Paulo Costa, apparently, but even Costa was unimpressed by the fight on Saturday night.
It’s clear that both fighters were at fault in delivering the dud. Still, White called out Romero, in particular. Here’s what White said, via MMA Junkie:
“I do (think it was Romero’s fault),” White said. “He literally went out and stood in the middle of the … when the bell rang in the first round, just stood there with his hands up. You know what I mean? You’re going in and facing the world champion. This is your last shot at a championship. You shouldn’t even be here getting this title fight. It should be Paulo Costa. If he didn’t get hurt, you don’t even get this opportunity. You go in, and you do everything you can to win that fight. He literally did none of that.”
Romero landed 40 of his 89 strikes (45% success rate), per UFC’s official stats. Adesanya, meanwhile, landed just 48 of his 132 strikes for a weak 36% success rate. The top fight for the women, meanwhile, featured 783 strikes with the fighters landing 363. It was a vastly different fight, which landed Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the hospital.
Romero was self-critical after the fight, as he admitted viewers paid for a fight, “not this.” And perhaps it’s good that he’s willing to acknowledge the shortcomings of the fight, because White had a strong message for Romero.
“A path back to the title after that performance?” White said. “You’re crazy even asking that question right now. He looked terrible tonight. He literally gave up an opportunity tonight. Maybe he comes back in his next fight and looks like Yoel Romero. But if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t expect him to fight another 10 years looking like that.””
Romero went into the fight hoping to challenge the middleweight title, and he left the ring in jeopardy of losing all favor with White.
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