Unfortunately this middleweight title fight provided a rather anti-climatic end to the UFC 248 pay-per-view tonight in Las Vegas, but nonetheless, Israel Adesanya did enough to earn a unanimous decision victory over Yoel Romero.
Round One:
The main event middleweight title fight is underway in Las Vegas.
Adesanya takes the center of the cage to start as Romero stands almost motionless with his guard up high.
Adesanya not sure how to approach this and stays at a safe difference. Little Ali shuffle from Romero and then goes back to that same curiously motionless stance.
Finally Romero starts to move a little, but still doesn’t appear to have any plans on offense for now and Adesanya is continuing to be cautious.
Leg kick attempt from Adesanya misses. At last Romero is starting to adopt a more orthadox stance. Solid leg kick from Romero.
Feints from Adesanya. He tries to close the distance with a right hand, but doesn’t connect. He does however land a body kick.
Missed left hand from Adesanya and an overhand left counter scores for Romero. Solid leg kick for Adesanya. Missed high kick from Romero. He also fails to connect with a leg kick, but then does land a jumping body kick. Leg kick for Romero.
Round Two:
Feints from Adesanya. Kick attempt from Adesanya, but he gets countered with a big overhand from Romero that backs him up.
Head kick attempt from Romero. Clash of kicks. Head kick again from Adesanya is blocked. Now a front kick to the body. Inside leg kick lands too.
Now an outside leg kick for Adesanya as he finally starts to get off some consistent offense. Now he’s flicking the jab out and then a leg kick.
Adesanya goes into a spin, but backs out of it before he fully unleashes an attack. Romero charging forward on the offensive and Adesanya has to back up and get out of danger.
Adesanya looking for kicks. he lands a body kick and just gets out of the way of an overhand counter at the same time.
Solid inside leg kick for Adesanya. Now a head kick that’s blocked. Romero stalking Adesanya and then does a flying kick that misses as the round moves to a conclusion.
Round Three:
Nice push kick from Adesanya to start the third round. Adesanya throws a big head kick, but Romero ducks underneath it. Romero attempts a rolling thunder, but Adesanya steers clear of it.
Adesanya misses a front kick to the body and bends backwards to avoid that overhand from Romero.
Nice leg kick from Adesanya. Now Romero lands one too. Adesanya tries a push kick to the face that comes up short.
Head kick attempt from Adesanya doesn’t find the target. Romero charges into a left hand, but then slips and quickly get back up.
Hard body kick from Romero. Front kick to the body for Adesanya. Now a solid body kick from Adesanya. Leg kick from Romero.
Push kick o the head attempted by Adesanya. He tries a spinning back kick now to the body that misses. Jab for Adesanya lands. He connects with it again.
Now a body punch from Adesanya. He goes for a head kick and it partially got through. The crowd is booing, but Adesanya has started to put together more offense in this round.
Round Four:
The ref tells the two fighters “you have to give the judges something to score” before the round starts.
Leg kick for Adesanya. Grazing left hand from Adesanya. Knee to the body from Romero. Nice leg kick after punches from Adesanya.
Overhand right from Romero misses. Solid connection on the leg kick from Adesanya. Romero coming forward and catches a finger in the eye from Adesanya, which forces a stoppage.
On the restart Romero charges into a takedown and gets him down, but Adesanya is immediately back up with ‘The Soldier Of God’ trying to flurry with punches.
Leg kick for Adesanya. Romero bouncing on his feet like he’s charging up for something.
Body punch from Romero, but misses with the punch upstairs afterwards. Leg kick lands for Adesanya. Jab for Adesanya.
Hard leg kick for Adesanya and that buckled Romero’s leg. Now a right hand from Adesanya. Romero in on a takedown attempt, but Adesanya does well to stuff it. Romero straight back up and connects with a couple of punches. Romero ducks a kick from Adesanya.
Round Five:
Kick from Adesanya comes off the arm. Punch from Romero. Leg kick for Romero. Nice outside leg kick from Adesanya.
Another leg kick from Adesanya and Romero attempts to counter with an overhand. Romero swinging hard now.
Romero looking to clinch and work a takedown, but Adesanya gets quickly out of danger. Now a good leg kick again from Adesanya.
Left hand for Adesanya. Romero trying to attack and Adesanya attempts to avoid it and goes off-balance for a moment in the process.
Body kick for Romero. Good left hand for Romero. Leg kick lands for Adesanya and Romero tries to charge forward afterwards without connecting.
Now a left hand lands for Romero. Jab from Adesanya. Romero fakes a takedown attempt and then comes upstairs with punches that miss.
Head kick attempt from Adesanya is blocked. Romero stalking forwards. He lands a leg kick. Jab for Adesanya. Now a right hand. Another leg kick from Adesanya. Two left hands connect cleanly for Romero.
Romero charging forward again. Adesanya goes for a capoeira kick that misses. Romero tries to flurry in the final seconds of the fight with a few punches and a body kick, then yells in Adesanya’s face.
The end is met by boo’s from the crowd who weren’t happy with the relative lack of action over that 25 minute period.
Decision:
Definitely not a thriller here, but in the end Adesanya did enough, particularly with his leg kicks, to earn a unanimous decision victory (48-47 x2, 49-46).
