UFC 248: Adesanya beats Romero to retain title

Agency Reporter

Adesanya won a tactical affair by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the middleweight championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

DAZN News scored it 48-47 for Adesanya. But the bout ranged from boos in the middle of the first round to fans turning on their cell phone flashlights in boredom.

“It was a hard fight but cliché I did what I had to do,” Adesanya said in his postfight interview. “I f—ed his leg up. I did what I had to do. I picked him apart. I did what I had to do to win that fight.”

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The fight started with Adesanya standing in the middle of the Octagon while Romero stood for around 90 seconds with his hands up covering his face and doing nothing else.

Then, Romero proceeded to do the “Ali Shuffle,” to the amazement of the crowd. A total of seven punches were thrown (four by Romeo, three by Adesanya) with Romero landing the harder shots, including a hard left hook.

Things picked up slightly in the second when Adesanya came out with a front kick and was going for a right hand, but Romero stunned him with an overhand left.

Romero was lulling Adesanya to sleep by implementing his style of not doing much of anything and then firing off a couple of shots.

With Romero now out of the way, Adesanya (19-0) can look forward to what is expeced to be an all-action contest against No. 2-ranked Paulo Costa.

“This guy’s going to actually come forward and try to f— with me,” Adesanya said of Costa. “I’m going to f— this motherf—er up. I’ll see you soon, boy.”