Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero are normally two very exciting fighters, but for whatever reason, their middleweight title fight at UFC 248 left the crowd bored and restless. While there was little chance of topping the women's strawweight title fight that came before it, what the crowd got for the main event was probably one of the most boring title fights in MMA history.
The match got off to an awkward start when Romero came out of his corner with his guard high and stood in the center of the Octagon, daring Adesanya to attack. Adesanya refused to bite and after three minutes of dancing around the crowd grew restless with the lack of action. With less than two minutes left, Adesanya made his move, but was punished for it, taking a hard left hand to the head. Later int he round, Romero landed two more powerful shots that sent a message to the champion.
Romero continued to frustrate Adesanya in the second round. He landed a few hard punches early on, but again, it was another round of inaction. Adesanya picked up the tempo slightly in round three, landing some hard leg kicks, but continued to fight cautiously as to avoid Romero's power.
The lack of action through three rounds drew a warning by referee Dan Miragliotta at the start of round four. Adesanya continued to work the leg kicks, but also inadvertently poked Romero's eye, bringing a temporary halt to the fight. The rest of the round was more of the same.
By round five, it was clear that neither fighter was willing to take any risks. The restless crowd rained down boos. The most action of the fight probably came within the final 20 seconds as both fighters became more animated, but still failed to deliver any meaningful blows.
With little to go by, the judges scored the fight in favor of Adesanya (48-47 X 2, 49-46). Adesanya's leg kicks figured to be the difference in points, though the crowd saw it differently and rained down boos when Adesanya's hand was raised.
"It was a hard fight but I did what I had to do," Adesanya defended during his post-fight interview.
"Look at his leg. I f---ed his leg up. I took his best shot in the first round and that was the best shot he landed on me. I did what I had to do and I f---ed his leg up."
"He plays the game flawless. He gets you into a flawed sense of security," the champ continued. "My coaches said we need 25 minutes of sharpness and focus. I was hoping to punch him more but unfortunately Romero was someone who didn't want to dance. Trust me. I'm fresh, I can go another five rounds."
When asked if he was worried while waiting to hear from the judges, Adesanya defended: "As long as the judges didn't listen to the crowd, I was fine. I touched him up. And still."
Romero was clearly the crowd's favorite — not because he was the more active fighter, but because he landed the slightly more powerful punches. Romero also addressed the crowd.
"This is my victory -- here, here and here," he said, pointing to the crowd.
"This is my victory."
UFC President Dana White wasn't happy with the fight, calling it terrible, but placing the blame on Romero for not pressing the action. He also believes the the Adesanya-Costa fight will live up to the hype.
"I believe Israel Adesanya fights to the level of his opponent," White said. "The Anderson Silva fight was similar to that. Then you think about the (Kelvin) Gastelum fight. It was a war. Gastelum goes after him and tries to take his head off. (Robert) Whittaker is going after him trying to take his head off. That fight was great. You better believe Paulo Costa is going to go after him. That fight should be ridiculous."