Israel Adesanya's win over Yoel Romero in the main event of Saturday's UFC 248, in which Adesanya retained the middleweight title, will be remembered for being a lackluster affair — it was a fight that had fans booing and even flashing their cell phone lights to amuse themselves.
Some put the onus on Adesanya, but many, including UFC president Dana White, blamed Romero for the lack of action. Romero saw things differently and felt Adesanya did a lot of running instead of competing.
"It's impossible to fight against a ghost," Romero said at the post-fight presser. "I don't know how anyone expected me to fight against a ghost. I'm going to start training for track or cross country. Because obviously, he is a cross country and track star, so I need to catch up to his sport."
The loss for Romero (13-5) was his third in a row and the fourth in his last five. Out of those four defeats, two came in title fights. The bout with Adesanya was expected to be a battle featuring heavy-handed strikers. Romero expected an all-action fight and got something completely different — and insisted Adesanya would rather ride his bicycle then engage in combat.
"Simply, I expected a war today," Romero said. "I came to have a war and put on a show for the fans, and that didn't happen, so that's how I feel right now. … I came here to fight, not to run. That's what he did — run and run. I expected a worthy opponent, but I had a runner in front of me. He kicked me. I kicked him. I made a takedown. He didn't even attempt one — not even one. I made a few. He didn't hit me in the face. I hit him in the face."
When it comes down to it, Romero felt Adesanya's performance wasn't that of a world champion, and the comparisons to Anderson Silva need to stop.
"I think it's a disrespect — he's supposed to be this great champion in the UFC," Romero said. "I think it's a huge disrespect to compare him with Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva when he was 30 years old, he would make all of us stand up from our seats. I think it's a huge disrespect, what Israel did (Saturday) to the fans and the UFC. People pay for the pay-per-view. They work really hard to pay for the pay-per-view to see how two warriors give it their all, and Adesanya didn't respect that today."