By Akinwale Kasali
Nigerian born, Israel Adesanya, has successfully defended his middleweight title against Yoel Romero via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) in the main event of UFC 248 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Ogun State fighter had earlier won the title he defended against Romero last year, making him the first African to win the coveted UFC Middleweight title.
After his triumph, Adesanya said he did what he had to do and picked Romero apart when he noticed his legs were already weak. Legs don’t lie.
Majority of fans had wanted Romero to win the fight, and booed the Nigerian throughout the fight.
At a point in the third round, people in the crowd started shining the flashlights on their cell phones to the direction of Adesanya.
Reacting to the fans’ actions, Adesanya said, “As long as (the judges) didn’t listen to the crowd, I was fine, I just concentrated and fought on”, Adesanya said.
Afterward, Romero said it was “my victory.” The fans, who cheered him afterward, seemed to agree.
Adesanya was ranked as the Number 7 by ESPN in pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world coming into the fight, while Romero was ESPN’s Number 4 middleweight.
This was Adesanya’s first title defense after beating Robert Whittaker to win the middleweight title at UFC 243 last October.
The story leading into the bout was that Adesanya could have waited for top contender Paulo Costa to return from bicep surgery.
Yet, he chose to face Romero, despite Romero’s losing streak, because of Romero’s reputation as one of the toughest men in the UFC.
Adesanya (19-0) remained undefeated with the victory. The Nigerian-born Kiwi has won all of his eight UFC fights. Adesanya, 30, was thought to be on the verge of becoming one of the UFC’s big stars leading into the bout.
Romero has lost three straight – 13- 5. The 42-year-old Cuban native has not won a fight since 2018. Romero won the wrestling silver medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
