Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero (3/7/2020) - Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena)


Elsalvajeloco

Recommended Posts

3 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

Man that was like Ngannou/Lewis all over again.

I would say that is in a league of it's own. People for years shit on Wierzorek/Shipp for years, but Arlovski vs. Schaub, Gonzaga vs. Erokhin, and Ngannou vs. Lewis were bigger clunkers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Elsalvajeloco said:

I would say that is in a league of it's own. People for years shit on Wierzorek/Shipp for years, but Arlovski vs. Schaub, Gonzaga vs. Erokhin, and Ngannou vs. Lewis were bigger clunkers.

I'm exaggerating to an extent - but it's similar in that two nasty fighters finally got paired up and instead of killing each other like Joanna/Weili - they were like "GIMME A SECOND TO THINK GODDAMN" for 25 minutes.

  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That fight never should’ve happened. It should’ve been Jared Cannonier. I never want to see another Yoel Romero fight ever again. 
 

props to Zhang and Joanna at least. And Beneil Dariush. That guy is underrated.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, jaedmc said:

I'm exaggerating to an extent - but it's similar in that two nasty fighters finally got paired up and instead of killing each other like Joanna/Weili - they were like "GIMME A SECOND TO THINK GODDAMN" for 25 minutes.

No, I understand what you mean.

Here is what people need to understand about Adesanya. He is capable of being outright disgusting when he wants to be. The problem is his style revolves around exploiting the deficiencies of other fighters, and it's dependent on those deficiencies showing up early. He takes what you give him. Romero gave up his legs so he was willing to exploit that. However, that was something Yoel intentionally gave up. He just said "fuck it I'm not going to check any kicks". Other than that, he didn't give Adesanya much room to operate. If you noticed, later on in the fight, Adesanya was basically shooting out a teep like a piston. Still couldn't really establish anything. The only thing that was slowing Romero down when he was moving forward was the low kicks. You could see Adesanya in his head thinking that if Yoel explodes forward suddenly and I'm exchanging punches with him, I don't want to be caught leaning back (something Robert Whittaker couldn't exploit with Adesanya). So Adesanya basically chose not exchanging in favor of not getting caught, which was probably reinforced when Romero caught him twice (Romero's only significant strikes landed for the first 3 1/2 rounds).

Israel Adesanya is an amazing fighter, but at the same thing, most of his offense revolves around picking up on your inability to do something. The Kelvin Gastelum fight is an outlier. If there is anything that Yoel Romero can do (besides checking low kicks) is he can properly defend himself. For a guy who such a big target, he doesn't present an easy target for head strikes. Go back and watch the Rockhold-Romero fight. Rockhold was just baffled about to how landed a significant punch on him. As much as that shit he does with his arms and the hopping up and down looks goofy as hell, guys are extremely cautious when they get near him because he isn't leaving an opening. Adesanya decided to play it safe. It is what it is.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

That fight never should’ve happened. It should’ve been Jared Cannonier.

It still would have been Romero. Costa couldn't get cleared. Cannonier got a serious chest injury some weeks back and is out for awhile. So Yoel Romero would have been the replacement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paulo Costa said tonight's main event was a "shit fight" and he is ashamed to have watched it. He also said at the press conference that no one deserved to win and Adesanya's victory was shameful.

Costa was angrier about the fight than Dana White was.

Edited by TheVileOne
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Paulo Costa said tonight's main event was a "shit fight" and he is ashamed to have watched it. He also said at the press conference that no one deserved to win and Adesanya's victory was shameful.

Costa was angrier about the fight than Dana White was.

Costa is angry 24/7. He should probably direct some of that energy to his stylist who constantly dresses him like he is about do a walk-on role for the show Narcos: Mexico.

  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

That’s an insult to Backlund and Valentine. 

You're right. I wrote this early in the fight when I was still optimistic.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Do you think he'll ever accept his part in losing all of these close decisions? I guess he would have probably already done it if it were to ever happen.

It makes me wonder what he could be if he decided to train at the main branch at American Top Team instead of having his own set of coaches at a gym off in Miami. I mean I can't really try to rationalize what Yoel does because he clearly matches to the beat of his drum. However, last night, I saw Mike Brown in his corner for maybe the first time. Keep in mind, that's probably cause he was just out there with Joanna just minutes earlier. It's pretty common for coaches to run back out there even if they don't train somebody one on one. Anyway, Mike was like third in command at best for Yoel. I'm not sure what his purpose was other than provide minimal assistance in English so Yoel's other coaches can relay it back in Spanish. However, I don't think they were doing that cause all of the translated instructions (I admit you have to take that with a grain of salt) on the broadcast were very few and far between. The little that was said to Yoel in between rounds was very simplistic. I cannot really delineate that from anything Yoel might have been told in past fights. It just seemed like it was a normal day at the office and nothing was going wrong. There is no urgency at all really.

I think the common theme with Yoel is something I notice with a lot of Cuban fighters (specifically in boxing). Look at guys like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara. They fight at a pace and with an attitude that everything has to be done at there own terms and if the fight is slow and methodical, then that's what it has to be. They don't really give a shit if it isn't pleasant to watch as long as they can dictate minute by minute what happens. At no point does it really enter anyone's mind that I have to fight outside this methodology because the fight is extremely close or might be close. Every round is going to resemble each other save for some exceptions.

Edited by Elsalvajeloco
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Craig H said:

Remember after Izzi's last fight we were making the comps to Anderson Silva? I guess he ticks the rides out 5 long rounds box too.

When Anderson did that against Maia he was still the scariest dude in the building. Adesayna looked like he was fighting his dad and didn't want any part of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jesus Fuck.  Zhang smashed Joanna so bad that Joanna resembled one of the Greys from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  

Her forehead was a twelve-head.

Joanna got her damage in as well.  I really thought Zhang's eyes were going to swell shut by the end of the fight.

What a fucking war that was.  There absolutely has to be a rematch.

As for the main event, I had the fight 3-2 in favor of Adesanya.  Aside from the shot that Yoel caught him with in Round 1, the rest of that fight was about Yoel's mobility being kicked into oblivion and being jab feinted into counterstrikes.  I'm not mad at Israel for deciding to respect Romero's power, defense, and durability and not get goaded into trading with him.

You only have to watch Yoel's flying knee KO of Weidman once to put "Hard Leg Kicks and lots of them" at the top of your To Do list when fighting Romero.

Edited by J.T.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Meltzer:

For Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Michael Bell scored one, four and five for Weili, Derek Clearly scored two, four and five for Weili and Eric Cohen scored three through five for Jedrejczyk. Media scores were 71 percent for Weili. That fight is likely to win fight of the year and was one of the greatest fights in UFC history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...