Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya has defeated Cuban Yoel Romero in a unanimous decision to retain his belt as the UFC Middleweight Champion.

The judges scored the fight which took place in Las Vegas, 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46, in favor of Adesanya.
From the onset, it was a largely non-committal affair as many expected but Adesanya, 30, peppered Romero with leg kicks.
The fight began with the 40-year-old Cuban fixed in the center of the Octagon with a high guard.
In the first two rounds, Romero’s style caused troubles for Adesanya who later found his rhythm in the second half of the fight.
This was Adesanya’s first title defense since the victory against Australian Robert Whittaker in Melbourne in 2019. He is now the fastest fighter to go 8-0 in the UFC (755 days), passing Anderson Silva (850 days) 14 of his 19 wins are by KO/TKO
- Ryan Hobbs | Also, I have nothing bad to say about Israel Adesanya. He took an extremely dangerous fight when he didn’t have to. He did what he needed to do and he just defeated Yoel Romero. Yoel couldn’t keep him down, and he couldn’t knock him out. Izzy is a champion. #UFC248
- TrueGeodie | Romero actually just stunk the joint out, barely throwing a punch and then bitches about a lack of action in his interview after? I threw more punches from the sofa mate. Spunked his final title shot right up the wall #UFC248
- Toolz | I honestly care less if the fight was boring or not. Israel Adesanya did what he has to do against the beast Romero… He’s the undisputed, undefeated and definitely the best. Big ups The Last Stylebender #UFC248
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“He ran and ran, he is NOT big champion!”
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) March 8, 2020
“The fans deserve better. You want running, watch Usain Bolt!”
Yoel Romero put the blame for the lackluster #UFC248 main event squarely Israel Adesanya’s shoulders 👀 pic.twitter.com/zngmBw1QV0
“The people want to see the good fight, not like this. … You want to see running, go see Usain Bolt.”
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 8, 2020
Yoel Romero after losing to Israel Adesanya at #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/N8jMMU5lfF
Women’s MMA made the men look terrible at #UFC248 – the ferocity and competitiveness of Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk really put Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero to shame. pic.twitter.com/pXGviqYyWO
— Jake Watt (@JakeChatty) March 8, 2020