Finishing the Fight: UFC 248 — Adesanya, Romero and Jingliang

By
Bryson Hester
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Yoel Romero
Yoel Romero will be competing on the Spanish reality television show Exalton.

Mixed martial arts fans love a good fight-ending sequence, as often it summarizes the story of the fight in just a few seconds. Getting the finish is a definitive end to a fight that makes a statement: “I was this much better than my opponent at that particular moment in time.”

Every fighter has their go-to moves, especially specialists within certain martial arts disciplines. Their own signature styles that can lead to spectacular finishes. Whether it’s a scary-good rear-naked choke that fighters just can’t seem to avoid once going to the ground or crazy power in a straight left hand that has dropped even granite-chinned fighters with ease, each fighter has a particular finishing move or sequence. Moves that have stuck in fan’s minds and come to define and describe their careers within the cage.

Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC)

Israel Adesanya is the greatest example of a kickboxing specialist in the UFC today. Adesanya, who returns at UFC 248,  is about as technical as it gets when it comes to stand-up striking and is able to masterfully utilize all of his weapons (legs, knees, elbows, and fists) to completely neutralize his opponent as well as avoid an abundance of damage. Just take Adesanaya’s 2019 unanimous decision win against the veteran stand-up master Anderson Silva.

Every one of Adesanya’s tools, to date. have been managed wisely in order for him to pick apart his opponents with masterfully selected shots, as well as just barely slide out of the path of incoming fire.

Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC)

Yoel Romero has long been called a freak amongst freaks. Taking one look at the 42-year-old and his chiseled body is enough for most people to tell him apart from a regular UFC fighter. But its what Romero can do with all those muscles that are truly his most special attribute. Yoel’s X factor is without a doubt his brute strength and explosiveness. Romero has a style where he just lulls you to sleep with slow movements and low volume attacks until he completely releases the beast and pushes out a high action movement whether that be a takedown a rapid flurry of strikes.

Yoel finishes fights. Over the course of the Cuban’s professional MMA career, 11 of his 13 wins have been by knockout. Many of those knockouts looked exactly akin to when Yoel Romero exploded on Chris Wiedman back in 2016 to get the KO finish. Thanks to his amazing wrestling Yoel can swing with reckless abandon. Of course, he faces another finisher in Adesanya at UFC 248.

Li “The Leech” Jingliang

  (17-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC)

If you looked up, “aggressive fighter” in an online search engine, what should come up is a picture of Jingliang Li during any one of his fights. This athlete swings and comes forward, that’s it. The Leech is all about an old school stand and brawl. His x-factor is his pure tenacity and pressure. Every strike that Li throws is absolutely with bad intentions to inflict massive punishment upon his opponent. You see it every time the 31-year-old sees one of his opponents on the ropes: he opens up and flings bones in their direction. Li actually also has a wrestling background which probably plays a bit into his tenacity, but he has also scored a lot of his finishes in the UFC off of submissions especially during scrambles.

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