Tag: Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya says he’ll face backup fighter if Yoel Romero misses weight at UFC 248

Making 185 pounds isn’t easy for Yoel Romero, but Israel Adesanya isn’t willing to do him any favors ahead of their matchup at UFC 248.

Making 185 pounds isn’t an easy process for Cuban contender [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag], but current champ [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] isn’t willing to do him any favors ahead of their matchup at UFC 248.

In fact, Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) said that if Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) doesn’t hit the mark ahead of their March 7 event in Las Vegas, “The Soldier of God” shouldn’t expect to step into the cage that night. Adesanya wants to make sure he secures a red ruby for his championship belt, the gem that’s awarded to a fighter for each successful defense of their title.

“If he misses weight, all I know is I want 80 percent of his (expletive) check,” Adesanya said at a press conference today in New Zealand. “That’s the only thing that pisses me off, because then it wouldn’t be classified with a red ruby on my belt if he doesn’t make weight, and that would really piss me off, and I would probably give the shot to someone else who deserves it. I might ask for the replacement.

“If he doesn’t make weight, I might say, ‘Jared Cannonier, step in,’ or Darren Till – if he can make it in – step in, because, yeah, (expletive) all that.”

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Adesanya told UFC officials specifically that he wanted a fight with Romero before they were booked for UFC 248. But it’s clear his contempt for the powerful wrestler is building. While Adesanya traveled to the U.S. for a press conference earlier this month, Romero didn’t reciprocate for today’s session in New Zealand.

“(Expletive) this (expletive),” Adesanya said. “He didn’t even show up. I went all the way to America for one day. I showed up and did my thing. He can’t even show up. The disrespect. The audacity.”

Assuming Romero does hit his mark, the fight will produce an intriguing clash of styles. Adesanya is one of the most impressive strikers in the sport today, while Romero is an Olympic medalist in wrestling. Still, Adesanya cautions anyone who thinks he can’t grapple, as well.

“If he comes heavy with the wrestling, he better pack a lunch because he’s going to be in for a long day,” Adesanya said. “Sprawl and brawl. When I sprawl, my nuts are going to be on the back of his head. I’ll push his head down, and I’ll smack him in the face with an uppercut.”

Whether or not he can execute that plan remains to be seen, but Adesanya made it clear Romero shouldn’t expect the same luxury he was afforded when he missed weight for 2018 fights with Robert Whittaker and Luke Rockhold – bouts which were contested despite his infraction.

“He’s a guy that’s disrespected the sport,” Adesanya said. “When he fought, his last win was at 221. … Dude, this is chess, not checkers. … He had two hours to try and make weight. He decided not to make the weight, and you know why? He decided, ‘I’ll take the fine … but I won’t dehydrate myself to the point where I won’t be able to fight, and that way he gets to go out there, knock out Rockhold, then still gets to go and fight for the (expletive) belt.

“For me, he better make weight because I’m coming ready, man. Seriously.”

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UFC 248 referees, judges set for Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero, Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Two title fights set for UFC 248 now have their respective officiating teams.

Two title fights set for UFC 248 now have their respective officiating teams.

The Nevada Athletic Commission, which will regulate UFC 248 next month, announced the referees and judges for the card’s main and co-main events during a monthly meeting Wednesday.

Dan Miragliotta will referee the fight between UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag]. The judges will be Sal D’Amato, Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy.

For the co-main event between UFC strawweight champion [autotag]Weili Zhang[/autotag] and [autotag]Joanna Jedrzejczyk[/autotag], referee Keith Peterson will be on assignment, with Mike Bell, Derek Cleary and Eric Colon serving as judges.

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UFC 248 takes place March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

Both Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Zhang (20-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will look to remain undefeated in the UFC.

The UFC 248 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero – for middleweight title
  • Champ Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for strawweight title
  • Li Jingliang vs. Neil Magny
  • Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Quinonez
  • Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Danaa Batgerel vs. Guido Cannetti
  • Gerald Meerschaert vs. Deron Winn
  • Polyana Viana vs. Emily Whitmire
  • Jamall Emmers vs. Movsar Evloev

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)

  • Saparbek Safarov vs. Rodolfo Vieira
  • Austin Hubbard vs. Mark Madsen
  • Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
  • Max Griffin vs. Alex Oliveira

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Darren Till hopes to get visa in time to serve as backup for Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero

With Jared Cannonier definitively not an option anymore, Darren Till is turning his attention to something else for UFC 248.

[autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] is eager to fight on March 7 but has encountered a few hurdles trying to get there.

Till (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC) was intending on stepping in for Robert Whittaker to face Jared Cannonier at UFC 248, but visa issues have kept him in limbo.

He explains that his U.S. visa has taken longer than expected due to an issue with his Electronic System for Travel Authorization application form, but even if he receives it on time, Cannonier is no longer an option after suffering a torn pectoral muscle.

With that in mind, Till now has diverted his attention to being a backup for the UFC 248 middleweight title fight between champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag].

“I just want to fight March 7th,” Till said on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.” “I’d just love to be the backup and just get out there and cut weight and just see what happens with that fight.”

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Romero has a history of missing weight, most notably at UFC 221 for his UFC 185-pound interim title fight vs. Luke Rockhold. Though he ended up winning the fight by knockout, he was ineligible to win the title.

And while Till isn’t exactly expecting a mishap from either man in the headliner, he just wants to be there in case he’s needed and get to witness the fight live.

“I can’t see Yoel missing weight. I can’t see it, but you know how many people were so convinced I’d miss weight against Woodley, and they had Usman as a backup, you know what I mean,” Till said. “… I’d just love to be there and see that fight live. I can’t even go. I can’t even be a spectator. That’s what’s pissing me off so much.

“I’m not cutting weight. I’m just staying my weight,” Till added. “My weight’s been quite low anyway. I’m just keeping my weight as low as … I’m training hard twice a day. I’m just staying ready for anything, whatever and as soon as Mick (Maynard) said to me Jared was injured, I was like, ‘Ok, I’ll be the backup.'”

Till has only fought once at 185 pounds, but the former UFC welterweight title challenger could find himself one fight away from a title shot. For now, he hopes to resolve his visa issues, as he is dead set on competing in the U.S. for his next fight.

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Spinning Back Clique: What rematch? Jan Blachowicz is Jon Jones’ next challenger. Or is he?

Jan Blachowicz complicated the light heavyweight title picture at UFC Rio Rancho, and now there is no easy choice for Jon Jones’ next challenge.

Welcome to “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. In this week’s episode,  “Gorgeous” George, “Goze” and John Morgan unpack the fallout from UFC on ESPN+ 25, including where things stand with the light heavyweight title picture after big outcome in the headliner.

SHOW RUNDOWN:

  • Suddenly, light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] has plenty of options in front of him after UFC on ESPN+ 25, where [autotag]Jan Blachowicz[/autotag] made a statement with a first-round knockout of Corey Anderson. Was it enough for Blachowicz to assert himself as the next 205-pound challenger just one week after cries for a Jones vs. [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] rematch reached a fervent pitch?
  • [autotag]Diego Sanchez[/autotag] left UFC on ESPN+ 25 a winner when his opponent, Michel Pereira, landed a hard illegal knee in Round 3 that rendered Sanchez unable to continue. Sanchez, who was getting beat in the first two rounds, won by disqualification, and the result has come with heavy criticism from fans saying things like “he quit” and was “looking for a way out.” We have some thoughts on that nonsense.
  • Yes, [autotag]Ray Borg[/autotag] won at UFC on ESPN+ 25, but he also missed the flyweight limit by two pounds. This is the third time in the last four fights that the former 125-pound title challenger has come in heavy. What should the UFC do with Borg?
  • Former Bellator champion and UFC veteran [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag] won his debut at Bare Knuckle FC 10 over the weekend. With 10 fights under its belt, is BKFC headed in the right direction?
  • Not that it was ever officially made, but for all intents and purposes we lost a fight between [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] and [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] at UFC 248. What that means is, there isn’t a legit backup to the main event between middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag]. What can the UFC do for an insurance policy?

For answers to all of those questions, watch Episode 16 of “Spinning Back Clique.”

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Coach: If Israel Adesanya can get business done at 185, we will push to fight Stipe Miocic

Eugene Bareman is serious about star student Israel Adesanya eventually moving up to heavyweight to challenge Stipe Miocic.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s head coach, Eugene Bareman, is serious about his star student eventually moving up to heavyweight.

Although UFC middleweight champion Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) doesn’t cut much weight to make the 185-pound limit, his mentor at City Kickboxing in New Zealand sees Adesanya clearing out the division, then going after UFC heavyweight champ [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag].

“Fighting at heavyweight is not a problem for Israel,” Bareman told “Submission Radio.” “He’s not going to weigh heavyweight. That wouldn’t be what our advantage is. He would never weigh at what a heavyweight would (weigh). We’d fight at our walk-around weight, which is like barely past what the middleweight limit is.

“But Israel stated, and I think it’s a very good plan, he’s going to do his thing in the middleweight division. There’s some really tough challenges. He should clear those out. There’s at least three or four more good challenges. But three or four more fights for Israel is like, maybe within this year. So after that, what’s the next challenge?”

Adesanya has been active since joining the UFC roster in 2018 with seven fights. He won the interim middleweight title in a war with Kelvin Gastelum, then had a near flawless performance over Robert Whittaker to unifying the title.

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He is set to make his first title defense at UFC 248 against Yoel Romero, and while Adesanya is adamant he still has a few challenges to get through at 185, Bareman says the plan is to then move up and conquer another division.

He would skip over light heavyweight champ [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag]’ division, though, to make a run at heavyweight.

“For him – and we’ve done it in all the sports that we’ve participated in – it’s to move up in weight,” Bareman said. “And trust me, if he has these three or four more middleweight fights, we will push to fight Stipe, 100 percent.”

Adesanya has expressed interest in fighting Jones, but Bareman would need a lot of convincing for that fight. He has said he’s not a fan of Jones as a person and doesn’t see the need for them to fight.

“I mean, that’s the thing – it’s not up to Israel,” Bareman said. “I make the decision on the fight. So come 2021, Israel has to convince me that we should fight Jon Jones. And if I don’t feel that we have to, then it’s not going to happen. It’s not even Israel’s call.”

But as for Miocic, that’s a matchup Bareman definitely sees happening down the line.

“That’s the fight,” he said. “I mean, I was half joking to get the attention off all this Jon Jones stuff, but that’s a serious – I’m making a claim there – serious stake. If Israel can get the business done at middleweight, and if he’s successful, he will definitely look to move and challenge Stipe. That’s a serious thing. But for us, we’re not paying immediate attention to it. There’s just so much that we have to put our concentration into now that it’s on the back burner. It’s in the back of our minds. So, yeah, let’s see if that hurries along Jon Jones.”

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WATCH: Israel Adesanya’s moving speech after winning ‘Sportsman of the Year’ in New Zealand

The UFC champion become the first combat sports athlete to take home the prestigious honor at the Halberg Awards.

UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] made history when he became the first combat sports athlete to be named “New Zealand Sportsman of the Year” at the 57th annual Halberg Awards.

Adesanya took home the prestigious award after a remarkable 2019 in which his meteoric rise to the top of the UFC culminated with an undisputed title victory over Robert Whittaker last October. It’s been a whirlwind ever since Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) joined the UFC in February 2018.

After being named “Sportsman of the Year,” Adesanya gave a moving and epic speech, which you can watch in the video above.

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Adesanya’s next fight will come March 7 at UFC 248 in Las Vegas, where he’ll defend his title against Yoel Romero.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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Manager Abe Kawa on Israel Adesanya’s ‘mind deal’ to fight Jon Jones: ‘There’s no deal anywhere’

Jon Jones’ manager Abe Kawa said that Israel Adesanya’s wish to fight his client is unlikely to come true.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s desire to one day share the cage with [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] may be a reality in the Kiwi’s mind, but it’s not a reality anywhere else.

At least, that’s the view of Jones’ manager, Abe Kawa, who told “Submission Radio” that the reigning UFC middleweight champion is overreaching by chasing a fight with the pound-for-pound star and 205-pound champ.

“Let’s be real, if Dana (White) comes out and says, ‘I want Izzy to fight Jon,’ he’s doing Izzy a disservice,” Kawa said. “It will never happen. It would have to happen when Izzy is really pushing, ‘I really want to fight Jon.’ I just don’t think it’s a fight that’s realistic anytime soon, at all. So talking about it is almost … – it’s just in our minds.”

Adesanya recent stated that he expects to eventually face Jones inside the octagon, saying he would “chase him down” if Jones moved up to heavyweight. But Kawa says “The Last Stylebender” vs. Jones might not stack up in the real world.

“I’m not going to get into the Jon Jones-Izzy thing,” he said. “I come from a real estate background, and in the real estate world, whenever you get excited and you have a deal, one of my mentors used to tell me all the time, it’s a ‘mind deal.’ I was like, ‘What’s a mind deal? What does that mean?’ He goes, ‘It’s only a deal in your mind. It’s not a deal anywhere else.’ So, in this case, I would say it’s a ‘mind deal.’ There’s no deal anywhere.”

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While Kawa may have shot down the possibility of a Jones-Adesanya fight further down the line, he did offer an interesting scenario he believed could play out if Jones moves up to the heavyweight division, with Adesanya’s upcoming opponent – and Jones’ First Round Management stablemate – [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] eyeing a move up to 205 pounds.

“If (Jones) moves up to heavyweight, I can 100 percent say that I do see Yoel possibly going up to light heavyweight,” said Kawa. “I would think he would fare very well there. He trains with bigger guys now, he does very well against them – 185, though, is his home. He likes being there, and he makes the weight. Given time, given the circumstances, he always makes weight.

“He’s missed weight, I want to say, one time. The situation in Chicago was the commission, not him. So, the man makes weight, he loves 185. But if Jon goes up, 205 is an absolute possibility. I’d say (it’s a) 90-percent possibility that he goes up and challenges there for the light heavyweight belt.”

Before that scenario can play out, Romero has the chance to capture the UFC middleweight title when he takes on Adesanya at UFC 248 on March 7 in Las Vegas. It’s a matchup that sees Romero get a second shot at the undisputed belt, despite heading into the contest with back-to-back losses.

UFC president Dana White defended the booking of the matchup, saying Adesanya himself had called for the fight. While Kawa is understandably pleased to see his client land another title opportunity, he admitted he couldn’t comprehend why Adesanya would voluntarily put himself, and his title, on the line against the Cuban powerhouse.

“I’d say Izzy’s probably a little nuts just for calling out Yoel,” said Kawa. “I’m going to leave it at that.”

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Israel Adesanya on Yoel Romero getting title shot off two losses: ‘(Expletive) records’

You can tell Israel Adesanya that Yoel Romero doesn’t deserve a title shot, but he doesn’t want to hear it.

HOUSTON – When the UFC announced [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] would headline UFC 248 with a middleweight title defense against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag], there were two general lines of thinking about the matchup:

  1. This is a great fight.
  2. But does Romero really deserve a title shot right now? 

Unlike most MMA arguments, in which impossible-to-reconcile, diametrically opposed positions are taken, in this case, it’s easy to see the validity in both sides.

After all, even though Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC)  has lost two straight fights and three of his past four, all three of his losses were close decisions. But they still were losses.

On the other hand, it remains a great fight on paper between the UFC’s fastest-rising new superstar, and one of the most exciting and tough contenders ever to grace the octagon.

As far as Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is concerned, the latter is what matters when they enter the octagon in Las Vegas on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

For the first defense of his belt, Adesanya was angling to fight top contender Paulo Costa, who defeated Romero by decision at UFC 241.

But with Costa remaining on the sidelines, Romero became, in his mind, the clear-cut best option.

“I was trying to fight Paulo in my next fight, but he had a bicep injury that was supposed to take nine months to get over. But then, miraculously, he got healed in three months or two months,” Adesanya said at Friday’s UFC 248 press conference.

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Adesanya doesn’t see numbers when he sees Romero, just a stylistic challenge.

“And I don’t really care about records, man. (Expletive) records,” Adesanya said. “(Romero) is a guy that no one ever calls out, allegedly. Only ever, I think David Branch called him out. But I want to test myself against everyone of this era who is a beast. And he is a beast. So I’m going to test him.”

Besides, of Romero’s four career losses, only one is by finish, and that was in Romero’s Strikeforce debut in 2011. So giving Romero his first loss inside the distance in the UFC, to Adesanya, is too inviting a goal to pass up.

“What I hope to accomplish: I want to be the first man to stop him properly,” Adesanya said. “What’s his name, Paulo rocked him. Tim Kennedy rocked him. But no one has ever stopped him since Strikeforce – I think (Gesias) Cavalcante. I want to be the first in the UFC to put him away.”

For his part, Romero didn’t directly address the issue, but simply indicated he was happy to get the opportunity.

“I feel great. I feel the same. It is what it is,” Romero said in his native Spanish. “I’m still here. I say thank you, God. I say thank you to this guy for accepting the fight, and we’re going to do what the people want and need. We’re going to do this. We’re going to give them what they want and to see the best. He said he needed to fight the best, and with the beast, and if I’m here that means it’s because that’s how it is.

“If someone gives you a last chance for life, you’re going to take it, and you’re going to take it at all costs. He says it’s the last chance he needs to be careful. I know what I can do. That’s it.” 

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