LAS VEGAS – Following the UFC 248 main event on Sunday, there was a lot of finger-pointing going around.
After the event, UFC president Dana White and middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] blamed challenger [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] for the lack of action. However, Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) had a different take on the situation. He said Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) was to blame. Romero said he came looking for a war, but instead found a track meet.
“Simply, I expected a war today,” Romero said at a post-fight news conference. “I came to have a war and put on a show for the fans and that didn’t happen, so that’s how I feel right now. … I came here to fight, not to run. That’s what he did – run and run. I expected a worthy opponent, but I had a runner in front of me. He kicked me. I kicked him. I made a takedown. He didn’t event attempt one – not even one. I made a few. He didn’t hit me in the face. I hit him in the face.”
Sticking with the theme of running, Romero joked he should have known Adesanya’s gameplan was to run because the champion is of African descent. After a slight refusal, Romero’s translator relayed the message after some prodding from Romero.
“I ran into a great runner,” Romero said. “We need to remember that he has African descendants and Africans are very good runners.”
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Romero also called Adesanya’s performance disrespectful. In Romero’s eyes, Adesanaya is not worthy of the Anderson Silva comparison often bestowed upon him.
“I think it’s a disrespect – he’s supposed to be this great champion in the UFC,” Romero said. “I think it’s a huge disrespect to compare him with Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva when he was 30 years old, he would make all of us stand up from our seats. I think it’s a huge disrespect, what Israel did (Saturday) to the fans and the UFC. People pay for the pay-per-view. They work really hard to pay for the pay-per-view to see how two warriors give it their all, and Adesanya didn’t respect that today.”
UFC 248 took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
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