Israel Adesanya has confirmed he will be defending his middleweight championship against Yoel Romero.
The undisputed middleweight king made it clear he wants to fight Romero next after top contender, Paulo Costa, was sidelined due to bicep injury. This is regardless of the Cuban’s record in his last two UFC bouts.
UFC president Dana White wasn’t initially interested in booking Adesanya against Romero, citing the latter’s two-fight losing skid, but he recently confirmed that the promotion has a date for the title fight.
“We’re looking at Yoel Romero. (Adesanya) wants that fight. He wants to fight Yoel Romero,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
“Nobody wants to fight Yoel Romero. Nobody’s screaming, ‘I want to fight Yoel Romero.’ He is,”
“Yeah (we have a date), but we’re not announcing it yet.”
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UFC 248 Headliner
‘The Last Stylebender’ told Ariel Helwani on Monday that the title fight is already cast in stone.
“The fight’s done,” Adesanya confired, (transcript from The Score MMA).
“I literally just got to the gym now. I’m about to get some work in. Make no mistake, I’m still putting work in.”
“I’m still getting ready for my second title defense against a veteran in the game, a veteran in the wrestling, a tough motherf—–, the boogeyman of the division, the guy no one calls out – except ‘Stylebender.’”
“The fight will happen, and it will happen on our terms as well.”
“I’m happy. I have no doubt that I’m going to get what I want out of this fight.”
Asked if the middleweight bout will happen at the UFC 248 fight card, the Kiwi-Nigerian said “Yes, that’s the one.”
The said fight card will take place on March 7 at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with another title fight featuring Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejcyzk being targeted as its co-main event.
Undefeated And Undisputed
Adesanya, who made his promotional debut in early 2018, has yet to taste defeat in his UFC career.
Last year, he turned himself into one of the biggest UFC stars after scoring three emphatic wins against the top beasts of the middleweight division.
He first defeated Anderson Silva in an instant classic at UFC 234 before overcoming Kelvin Gastelum in an all out war at UFC 236, which many pundits hailed as the Fight Of The Year.
Then in October, Adesanya ascended the middleweight throne, following a second round knockout of Robert Whittaker.
With the goal to clean out the middleweight division, the former kickboxing standout said he wants to be an active champion before moving up to a new weight class.
“I have t do what I have to do – I have to defend my belt.”
“I’m the new unified king and there’s three or four more killers I have to fuck up at middleweight first then I’ll move up in weight.”
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(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Israel Adesanya and YouTube/ UFC)