Early this morning, Nigerian born Israel Adesanya faced off Cuban Yoel Romero in his UFC Middleweight Title defense. Following Kamaru Usuman’s (another Nigerian in the UFC, but in the welterweight division) successful title defense, the self acclaimed Last Style Bender stepped into the octagon, in a match many experts tagged “risky”. It was a fight he could have avoided, seeing as Romero was way below the pecking order for a title challenge.
After weeks of tense buildups, with words flying back and forth from both men, both fighters stepped into the ring for a showdown many expected to be explosive.
While still a relatively young sport, there is a huge Nigerian audience, with huge support for Adesanya and Romero. Some enthusiasts have found their favorites in other fighters, but their loyalty to those is always second place when Israel or Kamaru is mentioned.
The first two rounds were uneventful, with Romero stationary, waiting for Adesanya’s usual blitz attack so he could find an opening to counter.
He was successful on two attempts, landing two dangerous hits on Israel’s temple.
Having learnt early lessons, Adesanya resorted to long-range attacks and more mobile movements. He threw more kicks than jabs. In moves that reminded many boxing fans of the Mayweather vs Paquaio fight a few years ago, Israel actively dodged Romero’s onslaught and stayed out of his swing range, while still launching his long-range attacks.
From the third round to the fifth, it was all Israel, who, taking learnings from the previous rounds, used Romero’s own tactics against him, countering his attacks when an opening presents itself.
In the fifth round, an impatient Romero finally began to take the fight to Adesanya. Employing more logic than skill, Adesanya evaded the onslaught, using the space in the octagon to his advantage. He landed more hits, and took in less damage than his challenger.
The match ended 49-46 in Israel’s favour, meaning the champion gets to retain his title by decision.
The outcome, which many fans online are split on, leaves a lot to be talked about. Amidst the lackluster match, which many fans described as a letdown and underwhelming, some fans think the final scores doesn’t totally reflect the proceedings of the fight.
Romero himself had this to say, “The people want to see the good fight, not like this… You want to see running, go see Usain Bolt.” While his comments are valid, it is worthy of note that Romero was stationary for the most part, only moving when he got desperate as time was running out.
In the end, Israel retains his title, and Romero can only hope that he gets another shot at a title challenge.
Both fighters will be sharing $850,000, with Adesanya taking the lion share of $500,000. Not bad for 45-minutes of work.
Israel Adesanya Successfully Defends His UFC Middleweight Title Against Yoel Romero
