Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
“Now Israel has the belt, the people want to see who is the real champion.”
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and feared contender Yoel Romero have gone back-and-forth over the past few weeks teasing of a title fight, but it appears the UFC isn’t interested in the match-up.
Desperate to generate enough interest in the bout to warrant a title shot, ‘Soldier of God’ has called Adesanya out once again, this time urging ‘The Last Stylebender’ to give the fans what they want to see.
“I’m staying ready for the fight because I’m still hungry,” Romero said in a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani (h/t MMA Fighting). “I want this fight to happen because many people talk, ‘Who is the true [champion]? Who is the real champion of middleweight?’ And the people know who it is because everybody has seen what happened the last three fights before. Now Israel has the belt, the people want to see who is the real champion.”
Romero has lost his last two fights via competitive decision, dropping back-to-back fights to Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, but the Olympic silver medallist feels fans know who the real winner was.
“The people see that I am losing three fight. Yes, I’m losing three fight,” Romero said. “But when you ask them, inside their soul, ‘Did Yoel Romero lose?’ Yoel Romero did not lose. Yoel Romero is still the winner. Now you see what happened, the people want to see the really best people fight. Who is the best middleweight right now? I fight everybody, the best people in my division, the best fighters, and beat them. I not lose. I beat everyone. I feel like the day when I lose, I’m ready for the day when I lose because everybody have the beginning and everybody have the end of their career. But it’s not my day. I’m still training, I’m still hungry. The day when it comes and I lose I say, ‘Okay, today I lose it because it is what it is.’”
Romero concluded with the following statement, claiming Adesanya knows who the real ‘baddest’ middleweight champ is.
“Israel is not sleeping,” Romero concluded. “When he goes to bed and sleep, he says, ‘I need to fight this guy. I need to fight him because I need in myself, I need in my spirit, in my soul to say I am the world champion.’ Because he knows. The real champ in middleweight, everybody knows who it is…
“Israel, push. I’ll see you soon, boy.”