Dana White Reveals More About UFC 248’s Adesanya vs. Romero

Dana White, Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero

Getty Dana White, Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.

The main event of March 7’s UFC 248 left many fans dissatisfied, and during the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White shared his regret with booking the fight. UFC Middleweight Champion Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya took on Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the champion got his hand raised via unanimous decision.

But the fight lacked the action that fans were clamoring for. The match took place predominantly on the feet, but both men spent most of the fight feinting and reading their opponent.

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‘The Goofy Fan’ in White Made the Fight Between Adesanya & Romero

During the presser, White said, “I’m shocked that Romero knew this was his last opportunity at a world championship, [and] I thought he was going to come out like a bat out of hell, put tons of pressure on him, shoot takedowns, try to knock him out. He did literally none of that. So, if you’re Adesanya, he fought the smart fight. You stay on the outside, he chopped that leg apart, and he picked his punches and did what he did.”

White continued, “Romero did a lot of moving around, and acting like I’m trying to fight but he never really did.”

The UFC president revealed, “When I’m sitting here today talking about this, the matchmakers didn’t love that fight and didn’t want to make that fight. They did not want to make Romero vs. Adesanya, but the goofy fan in me said ‘are you s**ting me, come on, this will be a fun fight to do. And the fact that he wants to fight a guy that nobody else wants to fight.'” He continued, “Now, hindsight is 20/20, probably shouldn’t have done that fight. We should have waited for [Paulo] Costa, but oh well, we did it.”

He told the media that the matchmakers didn’t think the fight between Romero and Adesanya made sense.

White has made it clear that The Last Stylebender’s next opponent will be the No. 2 ranked middleweight Paulo Costa.


Dana White ‘Begged’ People to Watch the Co-Main Event

Throughout the build-up to UFC 248, White spoke more about the co-main event title fight, UFC Strawweight Champion Zhang “Magnum” Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk, than the main event. And at the press conference, White said, “I knew that fight was going to be ridiculous. You have these two incredibly talented savages who wanted that belt more than anything. I didn’t know if there was going to be a knockout or submission or something like that, but I was begging people to watch that fight.”

He continued, “You know me man, when I sell fights I don’t beg anyone to watch anything. I was literally begging people to watch this fight.”

Magnum and Jedrzejczyk fought in an all-time classic, and the match has been labeled by many as the greatest women’s MMA title fight ever. In the end, Magnum got her hand raised by split decision in a bout that could have gone either way.

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