UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya put his belt on the line in his 1st title defense against Yoel Romero in the main event at UFC 248.
Romero (13-4 MMA) looked to capture the UFC middleweight title last night in the main event at UFC 248 from undefeated champion Israel Adesanya. The Cuban stepped in the Octagon on a 2-fight losing streak after dropping a decision loss to Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, each. Romero was granted a title shot at the request of Adesanya, who was initially scheduled to fight Paulo Costa.
Israel Adesanya won the UFC middleweight title last October at UFC 243 from the former champion Robert Whittaker, who he beat via 2nd-round TKO. He was supposed to make his 1st title defense against Paulo Costa, who withdrew from the bout after suffering a bicep injury. Instead of waiting for his Brazilian rival to recover from his injury, Adesanya opted to fight against Romero instead.
The two met inside the Octagon in the main event at UFC 248, which turned out to be a somewhat of a lackluster performance. The fight started off slow, with Adesanya only landing 2 significant strikes in the opening round. Romero reciprocated that with only 4 strikes of his own and the action hardly picked up in the following rounds, with just a few short flurries of strikes being landed by either fighter. In the end, Israel Adesanya edged out a unanimous decision win over his Cuban foe. You can watch the highlights from last night’s main event and get the official result here.
See how other fighters reacted to the 5-round main event at UFC 248 featuring Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.
A lot of the fans in the arena could be heard booing throughout the entire 5-round bout, Referee Dan Miragliotta even warned both fighters to get more active, which many of the spectators thought was unusual.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 8th March, 2020.
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