Photo by Chris Unger/DWCS LLC
Dana White would like to see Yoel Romero earn a win before challenging Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title.
As one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster, Israel Adesanya wants to return to the Octagon to defend his middleweight title as soon as possible.
The newly-crowned champ was expected to take on streaking middleweight contender Paulo Costa in the new year, but that bout fell through after ‘Borrachinha’ suffered an injury and revealed he would be out of action until April.
Adesanya has since shifted his crosshairs to Cuban powerhouse Yoel Romero who, despite losing his last two fights, is still considered one of the most feared middleweights in the world.
Although the fans would love to see it, Dana White would like to see ‘Soldier of God’ spring back into the winners column before challenging Adesanya for the title, which could leave ‘The Last Stylebender’ stuck in limbo for the foreseeable future.
“[Adesanya] wants to fight Yoel Romero,” White said in a recent interview with Adam’s Apple (h/t Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “He wants Romero. So we’re talking about giving Romero a fight coming up soon here and then (Adesanya) will fight the winner of that fight.”
White went on to state that Costa is hoping to return to the UFC sooner than anticipated, but his doctor disagrees.
“Costa tore his bicep so he had to have surgery,” White said. “He’s claiming that he will be back sooner than he will be. That’s not what the doctor is telling me, so that’s not true.”
With no foreseeable middleweight challengers on the horizon and Adesanya just itching to get back in the cage, perhaps a superfight with Jon Jones will materalize much sooner than expected.