Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero is still in the works, Dana White confirmed Wednesday.
Despite being on a two-fight losing streak, Yoel Romero appears to have another title fight coming his way. On Wednesday at the UFC 246 press conference, UFC President Dana White confirmed that a fight between Romero and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was in the works.
Well then. Romero (13-4), 42-years young, is coming off losses to Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker. The Whittaker fight, in 2018, was to be a title fight, but Romero missed weight — then lost a razor-thin split decision.
Despite that, thanks to the mess that is the middleweight top ten in the UFC, Romero looks to be the first challenger for new champ Adesanya. At 185lbs, injury (to Costa) and other circumstances (involving former champ Robert Whittaker) mean the first fighter coming off a win is Jared Cannonier, ranked 4th. He was supposed to face Whittaker at UFC 248, but Whittaker pulled out Wednesday.
White’s confirmation that the Adesanya-Romero fight was in the works came as Conor McGregor was asked about headlining UFC 248 in March if all goes well this Saturday night against Cowboy Cerrone.
“Yes, yes. God willing we come out safe from this bout Saturday night, most certainly that would be well obtainable,” McGregor answered when asked about headlining the March card. As to who he’d face, “line them f*cking up. I do not give a sh*t. I couldn’t care. Any weight, any division, any anything. I’m in prime condition and ready to go.”
When White was asked if McGregor topping UFC 248 was possible, he answered “anything is possible. Let’s see what happens on Saturday.” He did, however, confirm that the event was supposed to feature Adesanya vs. Romero. “That’s the Adesanya fight,” said White. Or at least, it was supposed to be. The status of that fight, White said, is that “it’s being worked on.”
Don’t rule it out, in other words — but anything could happen.
