Israel Adesanya celebrates after winning the UFC interim title.
UFC 248 results: Israel Adesanya earns decision over Yoel Romero to retain title
On Saturday night, March 7, 2020, the UFC returns to their home base in Las Vegas with two world title fights.
UFC 248 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena and will be headlined by Israel Adesanya defending his middleweight title against Yoel Romero.
Adesanya brings a perfect 18-0 record into his first undisputed middleweight title defense on Saturday night. After capturing the interim title in a “Fight of the Year” candidate at UFC 236 in April, “The Last Stylebender” finished Robert Whittaker in the second round of the UFC 243 main event in October to unify the titles. Adesanya has quickly become one of the sport’s biggest stars and looks to add another name to his already impressive resume.
Romero gets a rare opportunity to fight for a UFC title coming off of back-to-back losses. “Soldier of God” lost a very close split decision to Whittaker at UFC 225 in June 2018 before dropping a unanimous decision to Paulo Costa 14 months later at UFC 241. This will be Romero’s fourth scheduled opportunity to fight for the middleweight title, two of which the 42-year-old missed weight. With a win on Saturday, Romero will become the second oldest world champion in UFC history behind Randy Couture.
Here is how the middleweight championship main event went down at UFC 248 between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero, including round-by-round scoring. For full results of the event, you can check them out right here.
ROUND 1
Romero slowly walking towards Adesanya to start and is planting his feet in one spot. Interesting tactic to begin. Romero shuffles his feet and Adesanya is not falling into any trap. Not a single strike thrown in the first minute of the fight and Romero is fine just staying in one zone of the cage. Romero starting to move forward and is getting a bit more active, but still no strikes yet through two minutes. Leg kick from Adesanya, and Romero answers with a leg kick of his own. Slowly paced first half of the round. Adesanya comes in with a right hand that comes up short. Body kick attempt from the champion. Romero ducks under and lands a big left hand. Adesanya is blinking a lot out of his left eye heading into the final minute. High kick comes up short from Romero, but he lands a jumping round kick to the body. Final 30 seconds of the round and Romero lands a leg kick. A slow first round comes to an end with the challenger landing the most significant shot.
MyMMANews.com scores it 10-9 Romero
ROUND 2
Adesanya comes out with a body kick in the opening seconds of the round. Huge counter left hand over the top from Romero lands. Adesanya just misses with a head kick and Romero tries to counter with a fastball-like right hand. Adesanya trying to get a little more aggressive, landing a kick to the body and leg of the challenger. Romero attempts a leg punch on the feet. Sneaky hard leg kick from the champion, following up with some feints to see where Romero is at. Final two minutes of the round approaching and Romero lands a flurry of big punches that pushes Adesanya against the cage. Left hook from Adesanya sneaks in as Romero continues to keep a slow pace and conserve energy. Adesanya goes to the body with a kick and Romero just misses a right hand with bad intentions. Hard leg kick from the champion, head kick blocked by Romero. The crowd is a little restless with the slow pace following that insane co-main event. Adesanya sticks a jab and moves out of the way as the round ends. Tough to score but I lean Romero for the more significant shots.
MyMMANews.com scores it 10-9 Romero
ROUND 3
Adesanya with a hard body kick to open up the third. Romero keeping his distance and ducks under an Adesanya high kick. Romero with a rolling thunder of sorts and lands to the body once he gets back to his feet. Romero continues to avoid any devastating shots from the champion, but eats a leg kick. Push kick comes up short from Adesanya and they trade leg kicks. Romero comes over the top with a left hand as he slipped to the mat. The challenger gets right back to his feet and lands a body kick. Romero takes a front kick to the body from Adesanya, the champion follows up with another kick to the ribs. Final minute of the round and Adesanya lands a high kick that slightly catches Romero. Nice jab from Adesanya and a right hand to the body as well. Glancing head kick from the champ who has definitely picked up the pace. The crowd begins to boo again as the horn sounds.
MyMMANews.com scores it 10-9 Adesanya
ROUND 4
Big Dan instructs the fighters to “give the judges something to score” in these final two rounds. Adesanya comes out with a hard leg kick, Romero answers to the body. Romero with a knee to the body and a right hand behind it. Romero is waving his arms around, Adesanya does the same and lands a leg kick. Romero starting to push forward now but Adesanya staying out of danger — landing a pair of leg kicks. Two minutes gone and Romero gets poked in the eye. Upon replay, no doubt about it as Big Dan brings in the doctor to take a look at Romero’s right eye. The doctor clears Romero to continue and the action continues. Romero shoots in and takes Adesanya down momentarily. The champ gets right back to his feet and resume the chess match. Romero bouncing around a little bit more and charges in with a looping right hand that falls short. Romero throws another hard right that misses the mark. Leg kick lands again for Adesanya. Final 45 seconds of the round and Adesanya lands a hard kick to the body, high kick behind it comes up short. Romero shoots in and Adesanya sprawls. Romero lands a combination and avoids a question mark kick as the round ends. I have it even heading into the final five minutes.
MyMMANews.com scores it 10-9 Adesanya
ROUND 5
Romero’s last chance at UFC gold, more than likely, has arrived in this fifth and final round. Romero throws a big right hand that comes up short and eats a vicious leg kick from the champion. Left hand over the top from Romero following an Adesanya leg kick. Romero ties Adesanya up and looks to take the fight to the ground. The champion is able to defend and land that leg kick that has been scoring for the second half of this right. Halfway through the final round and there’s not a lot of urgency from either side, especially from Romero. Left hand from Romero shoots Adesanya’s head back. Romero turning it up and lands a left hand. Romero drops to a knee and comes up short with an uppercut, then blocks a high kick attempt from Adesanya. Final 40 seconds of the fight and the T-Mobile Arena is back to the boos. Leg kick lands on the lumped up leg of Romero. The challenger lands a left hand and a body kick as the horn sounds. Romero gets in the face of Adesanya after the fight ends and this, well, odd main event has ended.
MyMMANews.com scores it 10-9 and the fight 48-47 for Adesanya
Official result: Israel Adesanya def. Yoel Romero via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
