Israel Adesanya and Zhang Weili defended their titles at the UFC 248 held last night in Las Vegas. Both fighters won via decision, with the only difference is that Weili’s was split, and Adesanya’s unanimous.
There was one other distinction between these two fights. Adesanya vs. Romero was one of the most disappointing performances in recent years, while on the other side, Weili vs. Jedrzejczyk is probably the best ever female title bout. Two of the judges scored 48-47 for the hosts, while one awarded a win to Joanna.
The fans had a chance to see a violent fight for life form both sides, and the look of the two ladies after the match was at least to say disturbing, especially Jedrzejczyk’s. But that is why the entire MMA world bowed down before them.
“It was a great performance. We are all martial artists here. We don’t want trash-talking. We want mutual respect,” the champion said.
Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) had a massive hematoma on her forehead, and she looked pretty nasty following the clash. She had to deal with it since round three, but never backed down for an inch, wanting to reach back the throne lost in 2018.
“The swelling was bothering me. I felt it more and more, but we’re good. Congrats champ,” the Pole fighter said.
Weili (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) defended the strawweight title for the first time, and it seems that there couldn’t be a harder task than this one.
On the other side, the main event featured two fantastic fighters, Israel Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the champion of the middleweight division, and Yoel Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC). And it was a big failure.
The two fighters were cautious, the fans barely saw some action, and the scoring, in the end, was a bit controversial. Two judges scored 48-47, and one 49-46 in champ’s favor. From what we saw, the first two rounds were clearly Romero’s; the following two Adesanya’s, and the last was tied, although Cuban showed a bit more initiative.
But all in all, it was a boring match. Apart from two hard left overhead punches, which Romero sent to Adesanya’s face, and left leg chops the champ did to the challenger, there was absolutely nothing. The fans were frustrated, and they booed throughout most of the time. Eventually, the champion received his portion while giving the interview in the octagon.
The spectators were better towards Romero, who received a mild ovation.
“People bought the pay-per-view to see a real fight – not this,” Romero said. “You need to have respect for people. People paid for a pay-per-view, for what? For a fight.”
Paulo Costa was near the ring, and he constantly called out both fighters. Even after the match, he continued to rip them, saying that the bout was “shameful” according to his words. It is expected that he and Adesanya meet next. Having in mind that the champ didn’t endure too much damage, his medical evaluations will probably be ok, and we won’t wait too much for that spectacle.
