Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya admitted that his title fight against Yoel Romero in 2020 was “boring.”
Adesanya defeated Romero via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 248 in March 2020, but the fight was significantly criticized by fans for not having much action in it.
It certainly didn’t help that the Adesanya vs. Romero fight came right after Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s five-round classic in the very fight beforehand.
Now, over six years later, Adesanya can fully admit the fight with Romero sucked.
Israel Adesanya Criticizes His Fight Against Yoel Romero
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Adesanya fully admitted that his fight against Romero did not live up to the expectations of the fans, nor his own personal expectations of what it could have been.
“I had one of the most exciting fights in the history of the planet (vs. Kelvin Gastelum) that’s inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, but I also had one of the most boring fights in the history of the company alongside Yoel Romero,” Adesanya said (via MMAjunkie.com).
Israel Adesanya Explaining Fighting Tentatively Against Yoel Romero
The reason why Adesanya fought so tentatively against Romero is that he got hit by a big shot early in the fight, and it made him see four.
Instead of risking getting hit again and potentially getting knocked out, Adesanya decided to play it safe and win on points. While it may not have been exciting to watch, he got the win.
“We’re both dangerous men. When he hit me with that zinger, I seen four in front of me, and I thought, ‘OK, he’s going to come in for the kill,'” Adesanya said.
“So whoever comes, if I saw four of them. Then it would have been four, then I’d have to pick which one – but he didn’t. He just played the game, and then, yeah – it was a boring fight. But he’s a dangerous man. There’s a reason he didn’t want to come close and there’s a reason I didn’t want to risk again getting hit by that zinger. So yeah – shout out to him.”
Israel Adesanya Admits Yoel Romero Fight in 2020 Was ‘Boring’