Israel Adesanya has defended his middleweight title with an unanimous decision victory over Yoel Romero at UFC 248.
In his first title defence since taking the title from Robert Whittaker last October, Adesanya saw off his opponent to extend his flawless MMA record to 19-0 in Las Vegas.
In a bizarre contest that failed to truly ignite and was frequently booed by the T-Mobile Arena crowd, the champion did enough to secure a clean sweep of the judges’ scorecards.
The strange tone was evident from the start with Romero frozen still in the centre of the octagon for the first 30 seconds of the opening round, waiting for the champion to make the first move.
Romero eventually got to work, catching Adesanya with a stiff left hook in the only action of note in the first five minutes of the contest.
Adesanya was reluctant to commit against the dangerous Romero with the the challenger also failing to truly trouble his opponent.
Adesanya developed one key weapon in the contest, punishing the Cuban with a series of thumping leg kicks. Given his status as challenger, the final round called for something more adventurous from Romero after a contest where referee Dan Miragliotta even warned both men to step up the action.
Romero couldn't find the big finish however with a one-sided decision from the judges mercifully bringing an underwhelming end to the night.
While the main event proved a let down, the card's other championship fight was UFC at its explosive best.
Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk shared a fight of the year candidate as Zhang defended her strawweight championship via a split decision.
Jedrzejczyk was looking to reclaim the title she previously held for over two years, taking on the Chinese phenomenon Zhang who won the belt with a stunning 42-second victory back home against Jessica Andrade in August last year.
The two shared five brutal rounds, with Jedrzejczyk’s forehead suffering some nasty swelling after taking a stiff shot in the third. A bloodied Zhang retained her belt however, extending her professional record to 21-1.
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