Dana White reacts to Israel Adesanya’s UFC 248 victory against Yoel Romero

Dana White has reacted to tonight’s UFC 248 main event title fight between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.

In the highly anticipated headliner, “The Last Stylebender” defended his belt for the first time against the division’s “boogeyman”, Yoel Romero. “The Soldier of God” was riding a two-fight losing streak prior, and suffered a similar fate in his Adesanya showdown.

Adesanya managed to retain his undefeated record in the main event as he outpointed his opponent on the judges’ scorecards. UFC kingpin, Dana White criticised the 42-year old title challenger and compared the main event showdown to Zhang vs Jędrzejczyk.

With the two blockbuster showdowns to weigh-in on, Dana White stated:

“The gate was 2.75 million or 15077 in attendance. The fight of the night, no brainer [was] co-main event, Zhang vs Jędrzejczyk.

“Well there’s two things. It was a tough act to follow after the co-main event. I believe that Israel Adesanya fights to the level of his opponent. The Anderson Silva fight was similar to that, and then you think of the Kelvin Gastelum fight, it was a war. Gastelum goes after him and tries to take his head off. [Robert] Whittaker’s going after him trying to take his head off, that fight was great. And you better believe that Paulo Costa is going to go after him, and that fight is should be ridiculous.

“I expected Yoel Romero- you heard all week I was talking more about the co-main event than the main event. I knew that that fight was going to be ridiculous. You have these two, incredibly talented savages who wanted that belt more than anything.

Dana White continued in an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto to discuss the anti-climatic finish of the UFC 248 main event:

“Yoel Romero, I expected him to come out tonight like a bat out of hell. This was his last opportunity at the title shot, and he didn’t take it. I was shocked to see the way that he fought tonight.

Watch Dana White’s full reaction to the main event of UFC 248 below:

Video: Dana White (@danawhite) on Adesanya’s performance, Romero’s last title shot(?), Zhang/Joanna fallout and lightweight stuff. https://t.co/uWIHstr3S2

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 8, 2020