UFC boss Dana White wasn't impressed with the lack of action in yesterday's UFC 248 Main Card fight between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero, saying the fight "sucked".
The highly anticipated middleweight title bout ended in a unanimous decision with Nigerian-born Kiwi Adesanya retaining his title. However, boos rung out across the T-Mobile Arena from disgruntled fans during the champion’s post-fight interview.
Now that the dust has settled though, the general consensus among fight fans seems to be that Romero didn’t show up to fight.
Many expected fireworks, however, the duel was seemingly anti-climactic with Romero unwilling to initiate and get inside.
The first 10 seconds of the bout seemed to set the tone for the rest of the fight as Romero stood flat-footed and stationary with his guard up whilst a cautious Adesanya circled around the Cuban fighter, maintaining a distance.
Many expected Romero to be the aggressor in what was his second attempt at claiming the UFC middleweight belt.
None more so than UFC president Dana White, who held no punches in the post-match press conference.
"Listen guys, the fight sucked"
White panned Romero's performance and suggested that the 43-year old threw away the last chance he had to become world champion.
“Romero knew that this was his last opportunity I thought he was going to come out like a bat outta hell, put tonnes of pressure on him shoot takedowns, try to knock him out, he did literally none of that.”
“Romero did a lot of moving around and acting like ‘I’m trying to fight’ but he never really did," White said.
Conversely, White praised Adesanya and expressed admiration for his strategy during the fight.
“He fought the smart fight, you stay on the outside, he chopped that leg apart and he picked his punches and did what he did.”
Adesanya himself alluded to his disappointment in the fight with a humorous tweet this morning acknowledging the dullness of the bout.
Although the main event was disappointing, the co-main event and winner of, “fight of the night” between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk delivered some excitement for the fans.
The women’s Strawweight title bout was a gruesome affair with Jedrzejczyk copping a large haematoma on her forehead in her loss to Zhang.
Adesanya is expected to face Paulo Costa for his next title defence with White expressing excitement for the match-up.
“You better believe that Paulo Acosta is going to go after him, that fight is should be ridiculous.”
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