White Blame Yoel Romero For Lackluster Main Event
UFC 248 is in the books now, which went down last night (Sat, March 7th, 2020) from Las Vegas. In the main headliner bout, an undefeated middleweight champion Israel Adesanya successfully defended his title after handing challenger Yoel Romero a loss via unanimous decision. The unfortunate thing that both Adesanya and Romero didn’t do anything intriguing for the course of five rounds. That lackluster fight made spectators unhappy even UFC head honcho Dana White had the same views about this showdown.
White spoke to the media following the conclusion of UFC 248 and clearly blamed Yoel Romero for putting on a lackluster performance. (h/t MMAJunkie)
“I do (think it was Romero’s fault),” White said. “He literally went out and stood in the middle of the … when the bell rang in the first round, just stood there with his hands up. You know what I mean? You’re going in and facing the world champion. This is your last shot at a championship. You shouldn’t even be here getting this title fight. It should be Paulo Costa. If he didn’t get hurt, you don’t even get this opportunity. You go in, and you do everything you can to win that fight. He literally did none of that.”
White also said Adesanya fights on the level of his opponents, and last night’s fight clearly shows the same case when ‘Stylebender’ fought Anderson Silva, which had the same outcomes. Moreover, White praises Adesanya that his bouts are always exciting ones when his opponent is an exciting one as well. White also indicates that Paulo Costa will be next for Adesanya.
“I believe Israel Adesanya fights to the level of his opponent,” White said. “The Anderson Silva fight was similar to that. Then you think about the (Kelvin) Gastelum fight. It was a war. Gastelum goes after him and tries to take his head off. (Robert) Whittaker is going after him trying to take his head off. That fight was great. You better believe Paulo Costa is going to go after him. That fight should be ridiculous.”
After a lackluster performance from Romero, White wasn’t in the mood to discuss the odds and if he could receive the title shot again down the road.
“A path back to the title after that performance?” White said. “You’re crazy even asking that question right now. He looked terrible tonight. He literally gave up an opportunity tonight. Maybe he comes back in his next fight and looks like Yoel Romero. But if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t expect him to fight another 10 years looking like that.”
After White left the presser, Romero joins the media and responds to UFC president’s comments about him for poor performance.
“Where do you fight?” Romero said. “Don’t you fight in the middle of the ring? I was standing in the middle of the ring and he ran. What would you do? Every time he’d come after me, he’d just run. Every time he’d get near me, he’d run, and run, and run. Did you see the fight? Did you see that first hit I caught Israel with? Yeah, he didn’t want anything after that.”
Share your thoughts do you agree with Dana White’s comments?
