Saturday’s bout between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero failed to live up to it’s hype by a wide, wide margin, and debate about who is to blame, likely won’t end anytime soon. But, following the lackluster, UFC 248 headliner, Romero made it clear he doesn’t want anyone to look at him, in terms of who was responsible.
Romero lights up Adesanya with post-fight comments
Due to Romero’s wrestling pedigree and explosive power, there was a fair amount of buzz for his bout with the highlight striking machine, Adesanya. But, Romero came out extremely tentative, and looked to counter the middleweight champ. Aside from a few, noteworthy exchanges, the fight delivered very little action. Case in point, neither man landed more than 50 strikes.
Well, after it was announced that Adesanya had won via decision, Romero said this in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“He’s running and running and running—Like the people in Rome, like the gladiators. That’s what the people want to see here. He running and running and running. That’s not a big champion. The big champion stays here in the middle in the fight, like a real champion.”
And, during the post-fight presser, Romero also trashed Adesanya for what transpired in the main event.
“The only thing I feel is that I’m ashamed that I couldn’t give the fans a fight or a war that everybody wanted,” Romero said. “It just became a running match and I just feel bad in general. It’s a huge disrespect that supposedly an apparent grand champion of the UFC—It’s a disrespect comparing him to Anderson Silva.
“Anderson Silva at 30 years old would make the whole stadium stand up. It’s a huge disrespect what Israel did today for the fans and for the sport of the UFC.”
““Do you know why he won against Robert Whittaker?” Romero said. “Because [Whittaker] wasn’t the same. He suffered a lot if injuries in the years he’s had. And he has respect for everyone. And he would stand and fight with me.”
Surprising comments?
There’s a couple of things to look at here. On one hand, yes, Adesanya looked to fight from the outside and not in the pocket for much of the bout. But, against someone who is as powerful as Romero, that’s understandable. He also, however, pressured and moved forward often. So, it would be surprising if a narrative that Adesanya ‘ran’ in the fight gets going.
Further, while Romero started attacking more often later in the fight, he fought extremely conservative throughout much of it. When you consider Romero has been booked four times now for UFC title fights, his decision to fight that way is somewhat perplexing. Dana White alluded to that fact, while trashing Romero’s performance.
So, it’s going to be interesting to see what comes next for Romero, and whether he’s tapped to fight a top five contender.