Israel Adesanya claims fight against Yoel Romero ‘is done’
Israel Adesanya appears to have his first title defense set as he will be taking on Yoel Romero.
Ever since Paulo Costa got injured, who Adesanya would fight next was up in the air, but the champion called for Romero and it appears he has gotten his wish.
“The fight’s done. Make no mistake, I’m still putting work in,” Adesanya said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (via The Mac Life). “I’m still getting ready for my second title defence against a veteran [Romero] of the game. A veteran in wrestling, a tough motherf***er, the boogeyman of the division. The guy nobody calls out.”
The fight is expected to be the main event of UFC 248 on March 7 in Las Vegas in Adesanya’s first official title defense. But, he is calling it his second after saying he defended the belt against Robert Whittaker.
Israel Adesanya, of course, is coming off a knockout win over Whittaker in the main event of UFC 243 to win the middleweight title. Before that, he beat Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 to win the interim strap in what many consider the fight of the year. The Kiwi by way of Nigeria, is 18-0 in MMA including being 7-0 in the UFC. He also has notable wins over Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson, and Brad Tavares among others.
Yoel Romero, meanwhile, is on a two-fight losing streak and is 1-3 in his last four. But, he still remains one of the toughest fights in the division. In his last fight, he dropped a unanimous decision to Costa. In the fight before lost to Whittaker in a non-title bout after the Cuban misses weight. He also missed weight for the interim title fight against Luke Rockhold which he ended up winning by knockout.
UFC 248 will also feature the strawweight title fight between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. And, a key middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier.
