Tag: Israel Adesanya

Video: Israel Adesanya, Yoel Romero face off at UFC 248 press conference

Check out Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero facing off ahead of their UFC 248 fight.

HOUSTON – UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] faced off with [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] ahead of Friday’s press conference for their UFC 248 bout.

After taking questions from the media, Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) had a tense but cordial staredown to cap off the press conference. It was the first time the two faced off ahead of their main event clash at UFC 248.

You can view the video of the face off above.

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UFC 248 takes place on Saturday, March 7, 2020 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas/ Adesanya vs. Romero headlines the pay-per-view main card, which follows prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

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Israel Adesanya, Yoel Romero verbally spar over Romero’s past weight-cut issues

Israel Adesanya calls out Yoel Romero at Friday’s UFC 248 press conference over Romero’s previous issues making weight.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] is down to fight [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] regardless what the numbers say on the scale.

The UFC middleweight champion discussed Romero’s history and past struggles making championship weight ahead of their 185-pound clash in the main event of UFC 248, which goes down in Las Vegas on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

“Weight has never been problem for me, but I will get a big chunk of his money if he doesn’t make the weight,” Adesanya said at Friday’s UFC 248 press conference in Houston.

The champ added that he remembers watching Romero struggle to make 185 pounds at UFC 221 back in 2018. The two fighters fought and won their respective bouts on the same card in Perth, Australia.

Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) faced Luke Rockhold for what was supposed to be for the interim middleweight title. Despite wining in impressive fashion, the Cuban fighter but missed weight, and was ineligible to win the belt. Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) took on Rob Wilkinson and made a successful UFC debut.

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Despite the numbers and stats, Romero denies having any issues with the scale.

“Believe me, I’m not thinking about the weight now,” Romero said. “Never in my life I’ve had problems with my weight. I don’t have a problem, but for many years, that’s been the big question. Like 25 years I do that weight. The first time I fought in that weight was in 1997. It’s no problem for me, it’s been many years.”

Adesanya interrupted and disputed Romero’s words.

“That’s a lie, you’ve missed weight three or four times,” Adesanya said. “How is that true? You’ve missed weight already.”

The 42-year-old Romero has missed weight for two championship bouts – first at UFC 221, then at UFC 225 against then-middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. Despite the previous history, Romero is not concerned with his weight cut for UFC 248, and says missing weight won’t be an issue.

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Video: Watch Friday’s UFC 248 press conference on MMA Junkie

Ahead of next month’s UFC 248 event in Las Vegas, you can watch a live video stream of a news conference featuring the title fighters.

HOUSTON – Ahead of next month’s UFC 248 event in Las Vegas, you can watch a live video stream of a news conference featuring the title fighters on the card.

The press conference, hosted by UFC president Dana White, takes place at Toyota Center in Houston. The event is free and open to the public ahead of the ceremonial weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC 247 event at the same venue. Doors open to the public at 3:30 p.m. CT local time, and the press conference is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CT. The UFC 247 weigh-ins follow at 5 p.m.

Taking part will be middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and challenger [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC), as well as women’s strawweight champion [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] (20-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and challenger and former champ [autotag]Joanna Jedrzejczyk[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC).

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

Check out a video stream of the press conference above.

Jon Jones likes fighting outside Vegas, bets he’d draw bigger than Israel Adesanya in Australia

UFC 247 is shaping up to be a successful event in Houston, and Jon Jones is ready to hit the road more often.

HOUSTON – UFC 247 is set to do big business at the box office Saturday, according to the promotion.

Seeing these impressive numbers makes UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] wonder why he hasn’t competed outside of Las Vegas on a more frequent basis. At a pre-fight media day held Thursday, Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) said he likes the idea of venturing out after UFC 247.

“Maybe I need to step outside of Las Vegas and fight in these markets where people don’t see me too often,” Jones said. “I think that’s going to be important. If I can possibly break numbers here in Houston, I can only imagine what would happen if I went to Australia or one of these other countries where they’d never expect to see me. The people would come out and that’s what it’s all about.”

Australia, of course, is the stomping grounds of New Zealand’s [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag], who defeated Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title at UFC 243 in front of an announced crowd of 57,127.

When asked, Jones joked he’d still be the bigger draw in Adesanya’s backyard, “Yeah he is (a big draw). I bet I’d be even bigger.”

Jones and Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) have exchanged words in recent months through interviews and online. Thursday, Jones said he’s not interested and finds the middleweight champ to be human, unlike other past potential superfight opponents.

“I have no interest in Israel at the end of the day,” Jones said. “Anderson Silva was a guy everyone wanted to see me fight. I never wanted to do it because I had so much respect for Anderson. I feel the same way with Izzy, but it’s not coming from a place of respect. My career isn’t based around fighting him. For him to fight me, it would be huge for his resume. For me, I feel like I already have so many legends under my resume. He’s not even a legend.

“We’ve all seen that video of him fighting some Alex guy (Alex Pereira) and catching a clean overhand right. He’s very human to me. He’s not this special guy. I don’t see what everybody else is seeing in him. I think his whole anime stuff and how he’s all antics with his hands and all this crazy stuff. I think that’s kind of entertaining to a certain fan base. For me, it’s like ‘I would slap you. Get out of here, kid.'”

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Adesanya wasn’t the only topic Jones touched on during Thursday’s UFC 247 pre-fight media day. Check out Jones’ responses to a handful of other subjects on the next page.

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Israel Adesanya: Jon Jones needs me in order to stay relevant

If Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones do end up fighting, we know who “The Last Stylebender” will consider the A-side.

It’s UFC 247 fight week, and [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] continues to be asked about [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag].

Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC), the UFC light heavyweight champion, puts his title on the line Saturday against undefeated Dominick Reyes.

It’s been a while since Jones, who’s cleared out the majority of the division, has had a fellow star as an opponent, prompting him to finally consider a move up to challenge UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

But there’s another big fight out there for Jones, and it happens to be the champion of the division below him, middleweight king Israel Adesanya.

Speaking to ESPN, Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) said Jones keeps bringing up his name simply to remain in the headlines.

“I don’t need him. Actually, I’ll say he needs me if he wants to stay relevant,” Adesanya said. “Because he’s already done a lot in his legacy which is tainted by other things he’s done outside the ring but, for right now to stay relevant, to stay current, he needs me.

“He can keep trying, but he’s got someone else to worry about right now this weekend with Dominick Reyes, so he better focus on that rather than focusing on me.”

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UFC president Dana White seems on board with a potential Jones vs. Adesanya fight down the line but thinks that Adesanya has to get through a few challengers first. Adesanya headlines UFC 248 next month against Yoel Romero, but Adesanya disagrees with White’s notion.

Adesanya is confident that, if he wanted to, he could just face Jones now, but that won’t be how he writes his story.

“I don’t think I have to,” Adesanya said. “I could have done my next fight (vs.) Jones if I wanted to, but this division has been held up for so long because the former champion (Robert Whittaker) was pulling out of fights, was sick, and was holding up the division. So for me, I have to do right like the greats. Like Anderson Silva who defended 12 times, the greats like him. I want to do right by the division and defend my belt, so I’m saying if you want to come down and see me, come see me, but let me get my job done first.

“I’ve got (Paulo) Costa, (Jared) Cannonier, Darren Till is a fresh new name. If Kelvin (Gastelum) can re-up and get back on the chopping block, he can get it, but there’s a few other guys that I want to get to – not have to, I want to get to. I want to defend my belt a few more times before I step up and fight someone like Jon Jones.”

Minus the one career blemish on Jones’ record via disqualification, he’s never lost. Jones is widely considered one of, if not, the greatest fighter of all time, and Adesanya hopes he’s the one that gets to shock the world.

“I kinda keep hoping he wins,” Adesanya said. “I keep hoping he keeps his streak up so when I do it, everyone will be like, ‘Wow, he really did that.'”

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Israel Adesanya: ‘Jon Jones can try and run to heavyweight, but I’ll hunt him down’

Israel Adesanya is confident he’ll eventually see Jon Jones in the octagon no matter what the weight class is.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] is confident he’ll see [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] down the line, no matter the weight class.

In a recent interview with BT Sport, UFC light heavyweight champion Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) said he doesn’t see himself fighting UFC middleweight champ Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the future because he will have likely moved up to heavyweight by that time.

But Adesanya says he doesn’t care about the weight class.

“I saw something on Instagram that by the time he goes to heavyweight the fight will be – who gives a (expletive) about weight?” Adesanya told “Submission Radio.” “I’ve never given a (expletive) about weight. Since when? It’s never been an issue for me. I’ve been a heavyweight in boxing, in kickboxing. I’ll do it in again in MMA. So, it’s never been an issue for me. He can try and run to heavyweight, but I’ll chase him down. I’ll hunt him down if I have to.”

Adesanya is scheduled to make his first title defense against Yoel Romero in the main event of next month’s UFC 248 and has reiterated his intentions of defending his title a few times before considering a move up.

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So while he knows it’s highly unlikely that Jones would be physically able to move down to middleweight, he’s willing to move up – once he takes care of business at 185 pounds.

“Yeah, let him go to heavyweight,” Adesanya said. “Right now, I’m working at middleweight. If he wants to come, he can skip the line if he comes down to middleweight. I’ve said that already. But I’m sure he can’t do that because his frame won’t let him. So, let me do my work, shut the (expletive) up, and I’ll come see you when it’s time.”

Jones on the other hand, returns to action on Feb. 8, when he takes on undefeated Dominick Reyes in the UFC 247 headliner.

Despite both guys already scheduled to defend their titles, they’re constantly being asked about each other.

“I know that when I’m fighting, he tries to talk (expletive) about me when I’m fighting to try and take away the attention from my fight onto him, or to try like, you know, make it about him for whatever reason,” Adesanya said. “But it’s my show. Yeah, but I don’t really care. If Dom wins, good on Dom, happy for him – and I think he’s got a big problem on his hands with Dominick Reyes as well. But if Dom wins, doesn’t matter, I’m still coming for that ass.”

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UFC 248’s two title fights adorn poster for March show in Las Vegas

For the second straight pay-per-view event, and third time in four, the UFC will have multiple titles on the line when it returns home.

For the second straight pay-per-view event, and third time in four, the UFC will have multiple titles on the line when it returns home in March.

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 early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

In the main event, middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his title on the line against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC). In the co-feature, women’s strawweight champ [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] (20-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) takes on former titleholder [autotag]Joanna Jedrzejczyk[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC).

Adesanya’s title defense will be his first. He asked for Romero, who has dropped three of his past four fights, all by decision. He’ll challenge for the title despite losing two straight bouts – and despite missing weight in what should’ve been his past two title shots.

Weili beat Jessica Andrade this past August with a 42-second TKO to win the belt in just her fourth UFC fight. It was her 20th straight victory after a loss in her MMA debut. Jedrzejczyk lost the 115-pound title to Rose Namajunas in November 2017, then lost a rematch six months later. She rebounded with a win over Tecia Torres, then moved up to 125 pounds to try for the belt against Valentina Shevchenko. After she fell short, she returned to strawweight and a win over Michelle Waterson was enough to get her a shot with Weili.

Tuesday, the UFC released the official poster for the event featuring the two title fights. Check it out below:

The UFC 248 lineup includes:

  • Champ Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero – for middleweight title
  • Champ Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for women’s strawweight title
  • Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
  • Max Griffin vs. Alex Oliveira
  • Li Jingliang vs. Neil Magny
  • Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Quinonez
  • Saparbek Safarov vs. Rodolfo Vieira
  • Austin Hubbard vs. Mark Madsen
  • Polyana Viana vs. Emily Whitmire
  • Danaa Batgerel vs. Guido Cannetti
  • Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
  • Jared Cannonier vs. TBA

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Israel Adesanya: ‘I’ll make it look easy’ against Yoel Romero at UFC 248

Israel Adesanya plans on making it look easy against what most believe will be another tough test in Yoel Romero.

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] doesn’t see [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] being his toughest challenge to date.

UFC middleweight champ Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) defends his title against Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) in the main event of UFC 248, which takes place March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view.

“Stylebender” had a remarkable 2019, going through three different kinds of tests. He faced his idol, Anderson Silva, captured the UFC’s interim 185-pound title in a barnburner with Kelvin Gastelum, and became undisputed UFC middleweight champ in what, on paper, should have been his hardest outing in Robert Whittaker.

But just like most thought Whittaker would pose numerous threats to Adesanya, his next opponent, Romero, is projected to present a stylistic matchup that Adesanya hasn’t faced before.

With his wide frame, power and explosion, the Olympic silver medalist is dangerous everywhere. Despite that, Adesanya is confident that March 7 will be smooth sailing.

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“I’ve had some tough tests,” Adesanya told “Submission Radio.” “Right now, I still think Kelvin has been my toughest fight so far physically. Mentally, Anderson has been my toughest fight so far. But we’ll see. That’s yet to be said. I don’t think he’s (Romero) going to be. Like, the way the match is shaping up, I don’t really think he’s going to be. I think he’s going to be quite – not easy, but I’ll make it look easy.”

“I said that about the Robert fight, ’cause everyone was counting me out. They said, ‘Man, this is it. Nah, you can’t (expletive) with Robert,’ this and that. And I said I’ll make it look easy. And what did I do? I made it look easy. I just feel that way for this one, as well. I don’t think – Yoel is a guy who’s fought someone who just stays in front of him. He stays in front of him, and yeah, he likes a punching bag, and that I am not.”

Romero has a tendency of pacing himself, which has caused him to drop a few rounds on the judges’ scorecard. He patiently waits for the right moment to explode when you least expect it and has proven his ability to finish a fight in any round.

And while Adesanya is well aware of the dangers in this matchup, he hopes Romero uses a different approach and tests him with his high-level grappling, an area of Adesanya’s game that continues to be questioned.

“He’ll lull you into a false sense of security where you feel like you can kind of coast or you’re in control, and he’ll just explode,” Adesanya said. “So, you have to stay on with him at all points. You can’t just drift off, you can’t just coast in your mind. But also, his wrestling I think should be his strong suit ’cause he’s an Olympian and all this (expletive), but he rarely ever uses it. So, I’m hoping he uses it in this fight. I want to see what that wrestling’s about.”

In a rare case, Romero will be getting a title shot coming off of back-to-back losses. He has also lost three of his last four, but all have been razor-thin decision losses.

With not too many clearcut No. 1 contenders, Adesanya said he specifically chose Romero as his next opponent because he is a fighter that is feared by many.

“It was hard to sell it to (UFC execs) because they were like, ‘We can’t give a title shot to a guy who’s had numerous title shots,’ who’s been known for little vet moves or cheating ‘AKA,’ and he’s just a guy that they didn’t think they could sell it,” Adesanya said. “But I told them I’d sell it, I’d be the one to put it on, because he’s the guy that people had been hoping (would beat me).”

“It’s not really about him. They’re not coming to watch him; they’re coming to watch me because they’re hoping he’s the one to take me out because from the get go, from my first UFC fight, all they ever said was, ‘Feed him to Romero,’ and, ‘He’ll take him down and it’s over.’ That’s what all the casuals have felt, that’s what all the experts have felt, so I just feel like he’s one of those guys. I think he’s one of those guys that he’s – I mean, he scares Darren Till. I don’t see it, but yeah, he’s the guy that scares a lot of people, and no one’s asked to fight him, so I’m doing something different.”

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Israel Adesanya pays tribute to Kobe Bryant: ‘I don’t follow basketball, I just follow greatness’

“I don’t follow basketball, I just follow greatness and I’m following suit.”

[autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] admits that he doesn’t follow basketball, but that doesn’t mean that Kobe Bryant hasn’t left an impact on him, too.

UFC middleweight champion Adesanya, who’s preparing for his upcoming headliner vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 248, recently commented on the tragic death of Bryant.

Five-time NBA champion Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday morning, along with his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers. He was 41.

Adesanya says he’s humbled to have drawn comparisons to Bryant and his mentality, as he discussed the impact that the basketball legend has had on him.

“I don’t follow basketball, I just follow greatness, and just watching the way he played the game, watching the way he conducted himself, watching the way people spoke about him,” Adesanya said. “Give an example – JC, who’s worked with him in the past, the way she always spoke highly of him, … she was like, ‘You and Kobe are so similar; you guys would get along.’ I mean, I took it with a grain of salt, but at the same time, I felt cool that she would even put me in that same bracket because she’s worked so closely with him.”

“So, like I said, I don’t follow basketball, I just follow greatness, and I’m following suit. His ‘Mamba Mentality’ is worldwide. It’s something that’s always going to be around and live forever. When I finish this (bottle) and I shoot it in the trash can, what name am I going to yell? ‘Kobe.’ That’s never going to die now, and it’s going to hit different now because of the way things are but yeah, it’ll never die.

“Legends never die. It’ll carry on forever.”

Check out more in the video above.

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Kamaru Usman not interested in facing fellow UFC champs Khabib Nurmagomedov, Israel Adesanya

Don’t expect to see UFC welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman in any champion-vs.-champion fights for the time being.

Don’t expect UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] to participate in a superfight against another current titleholder unless a belt changes hands.

In a time where being a dual-champion is all the rage, Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) is ruling it out as something of interest for the time being. He has a major conflict with the idea of competing against lightweight king [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], and an even bigger one with middleweight champ [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag].

Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) and Usman share a management team at Dominance MMA, and under that umbrella they’ve created a bond. It runs even deeper with Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who, along with Usman, is part of the pair of the only African-born champions in UFC history.

Neither of those relationships are worth tainting with a fight, even with the history at stake, Usman said.

“I would never fight Khabib – that’s my brother,” Usman said on the “JRE MMA Show” podcast with UFC commentator Joe Rogan. “It’s just a mutual respect. I don’t see myself ever fighting Khabib. I don’t see myself ever fighting Israel, even though a lot of people have hinted toward it. I don’t see myself fighting him. Having two belts in Nigeria is better than just having one guy hold two belts. There’s no desire there. That’s my guy. He’s special.”

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Should the 185- or 155-pound belts change hands in the future, Usman’s stance might change. For now, though, he said he is focused on the 170-pound class, which is ripe with potential contenders.

The frontrunner to challenge Usman next is Jorge Masvidal, but Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre are also names who have been mentioned by the champion. Usman said he’s ultimately leaving it up to the UFC, though, and so long as a proper deal is in place, he will fight anyone.

Usman said he has a few more weeks of recovery for a ligament strain on his wrist, at which point he’ll be prepared to put pen to paper.

“We’ve talked,” Usman said. “I’ll be ready. Give me a month and let this thing heal up. I can make a fist now. I’m cracking. They put out the guys, and let’s be honest, if you look at the division, I’ve beaten almost everybody there in the top 10. It’s a matter of who they really want, what’s next. Dana (White) said they really want Jorge. Jorge is the next guy.”

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