UFC: Dana White admits Israel Adesanya vs Yoel Romero ‘makes no sense’ – but ‘it’s incredible, I’m in’
- UFC president says ‘much respect to Israel’ for wanting to fight ‘the nastiest guy possible out there’
- ‘I love stuff like that … we could wait for Costa but the champ doesn’t wanna wait’
Plenty of fans and media have been scratching their heads after matchmaker pitted Israel Adesanya to make his first middleweight title defence against Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 248 in March.
Yes, “Stylebender” was originally set to fight No 1-contender Paulo Costa. But the Brazilian underwent surgery on a torn bicep last October and is out until the summer.
All the while, Romero is coming off two losses (one of them to Costa in an August barnburner by unanimous decision). The 42-year-old has also missed weight for two title fights.
He twice lost to Robert Whittaker (the man Adesanya knocked out in the second round to win the title in October) – the first time for the interim middleweight title in July 2017 at UFC 213, and again for the undisputed title in June 2018 at UFC 225.
Asked if a bantamweight title fight between champion Henry Cejudo and Jose Aldo (who is also coming off a loss, in his division debut) makes sense, White made a comparison to Romero.