Saturday night, Israel Adesanya’s defended his title against Yoel Romero. The fight ultimately concluded with a fifth-round decision in favor of Adesanya and left many fans unsatisfied with the uneventful turnout. Notably, Dana White expressed his regret for setting the fight up, citing fighter Paulo Costa as a much more formidable opponent.
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“When I’m sitting here today talking about this, the matchmakers didn’t love that fight and didn’t want to make that fight,” White said post-fight. “They didn’t want to make Romero vs. Adesanya, but the goofy fan in me said, ‘Are you sh*tting me? Come on, this will be a fun fight to do. And the fact that (Adesanya) wants to fight a guy that nobody else wants to fight.’ Now hindsight is 20/20, probably shouldn’t have done that fight and should’ve waited for (Paulo) Costa, but oh well, we did it.”
It was an injury that kept Costa, the rightful No. 1 contender, from taking on Adesanya. Per White, pitting the Brazilian against the Nigerian-born Adesanya will be his next move.
He adds: “Costa vs. Adesanya will be a ridiculous fight. I guarantee it, I absolutely guarantee it. He got what he wanted, he got him (Romero) on his resume, he beat him, and onto Costa.”