(ALSO SEE: Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Israel Adesanya, Zhang Weili and UFC 248’s key winning fighters?)
It was a rough night for the challengers at UFC 248. Neither Yoel Romero nor Joanna Jedrzejczyk were able to capture UFC gold Saturday, and sustained harm in the process.
For Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC), it was more of a repetitional harm. His underwhelming performance in a unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in the middleweight title headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas caused many fans to turn on him, and at 42, it may very well have been his final opportunity to fight for a major championship.
For Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC), it was physical harm. Her face was almost unrecognizable after going through a five-round battle with Zhang Weili (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), and although some believed she deserved to get her hand raised, she ultimately suffered the split decision defeat and came up short of reclaiming the strawweight belt.
So what happens to them both from here? A matchup between Romero and Darren Till (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC) has a nice storyline to it, and could easily serve as a main event. The same can be said for a pairing between Jedrzejczyk and undefeated contender Tatiana Suarez (8-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC).
Watch the video above to see why those should be the fights to make for Romero and Jedrzejczyk coming out of their title-fight losses at UFC 248.
