Matchmaker Monday following UFC 248 – What’s next?
UFC 248 was interesting to say the least. In the main event, we all witnessed one of the most boring fights in UFC history. Meanwhile, the co-main event delivered and many are calling it the greatest women’s fight of all time and some are even calling it the greatest fight of all time.
Now that’s its all over let’s fight out what’s next for the fighters involved on this Matchmaker Monday.
Israel Adesanya
Result: defeated Yoel Romero by unanimous decision
Next: Paulo Costa
The main event was boring, but in the end Adesanya made his first title defense and improved his undefeated record.
Picking his next opponent is easy as it will be Costa. The two were suppose to fight on this card, but Costa is still recovering from a bicep injury so Romero got the opportunity.
Following the UFC 248 fight, UFC President Dana White guaranteed everyone that Costa is next, so there you have it, Adesanya vs. Costa.
Yoel Romero
Result: lost to Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision
Next: Winner of Jack Hermansson and Chris Weidman
Boo. Romero let a lot of people down, and White pretty much said Romero won’t ever get another title fight. If that’s the case, Romero should probably retire, being that he’s 42 years old. Romero however, has no plans of retiring and he wants to fight another 10 years.
So since he wants to fight, the winner of Jack Hermansson and Chris Weidman makes the most sense. Adesanya and Costa are going to fight, I imagine Darren Till and Jared Cannonier will eventually square off and Romero has already fought Robert Whittaker twice.
Light heavyweight is always an option for Romero as he has a hard time making middleweight, but he’s said numerous times he won’t move up because he’s friends with Jon Jones.
Zhang Weili & Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Result: Weili won via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Next: rematch
Ladies take a bow. What an amazing fight. Given how great it was, imagine the numbers the rematch would do. I imagine it’d be so big that there’s a possibility they could even headline a pay-per-view.
Personally, I gave Jedrzejczyk rounds one, three and five. I also thought round two was so close that it could have gone her way. I was confident that Jedrzejczyk was about to make history, but once I heard Bruce Buffer start to read a spilt decision, I turned to my father and said “Champs always get the close decision.” Turns out I was right as literally seconds later, Bufffer said “And Still!”
Apparently, I’m not the only that JJ won, as many media members and fans are saying it two. Regardless, what a great and super close fight! God bless the judges who had to determine the winners of those rounds. In fact, if you look at their scorecards, the rounds were so close, that they all scored them differently.
Here’s one thing that we can all agree on after watch their war. Both fighters are going to miss a big chunk of time. In fact, both of them were transported to the hospital following the fight. Let them run it back at the end of the year.
