Israel Adesanya retained his middleweight title against Yoel Romero. However, it wasn’t a memorable affair.
Adesanya battled Romero in the UFC 248 headliner Saturday night in Las Vegas. Given how the previous three fights on the main card went, many were expecting an explosive finish to the night’s action.
However, it was anything but as both fighters did little to engage with each other. In the end, it was Adesanya who won the unanimous decision verdict for applying the more significant damage throughout the fight mainly with his leg kicks.
The narrative leading up to the fight was notably how striking Romero felt like striking steel or concrete, at least, based on the experiences of Luke Rockhold and Robert Whittaker.
But that didn’t bother Adesanya who continued to hack away at Romero’s right leg. Adesanya mentioned Romero’s leg in his post-fight interview and proceeded to mock it on Sunday.
““rOmERo iZ MadE oF STelL!” Adesanya tweeted in response to a picture of Romero’s busted up leg.
Adesanya also mentioned in the post-fight press conference how he lost respect for Romero given how the fight played out.
“I called out the guy who supposedly everyone is scared of,” he said (via Forbes). “I’m like, ‘what’s so scary about him?’ I kicked his f*cking leg. I kicked it over and over again. It was not steel. He’s human and he acts like he’s [not]. I definitely lost respect for him. I definitely lost respect for what I thought was going to be a really difficult challenge to overcome.”
That said, he did manage to poke fun at himself as well.
What did you think of how the fight played out?