Israel Adesanya believes that he proved Yoel Romero isn’t “made of steel” at UFC 248.<\/p>\n
Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion, defended his title against Romero in the card’s main event, winning a controversial and undeniably slow decision over the Cuban.<\/p>\n
Ahead of this Adesanya vs. Romero fight, much was made of the latter’s durability. UFC President Dana White, for example, compared the long-time middleweight contender to a piece of concrete.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think the fascinating thing about when you talk about Yoel Romero, and losing these fights, is that when you talk to the guys he fought, let them tell you the story of how the fight played out,\u201d White said ahead of the Adesanya vs. Romero fight. “Every time they hit him, it hurt\u00a0them.\u00a0<\/i>They said it\u2019s literally like fighting a piece of concrete, and nobody that\u2019s ever fought him wants to fight him again. They don\u2019t wanna fight him again. Those are the type of things that would make a guy who\u2019s the champ say \u2018I don\u2019t need that s***\u2019, right? He\u2019s [Adesanya] opting to fight Yoel Romero. If you don\u2019t like that, you\u2019re not a fan of fighting and you probably shouldn\u2019t watch this fight anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, who Adesanya dethroned to win the belt, also compared Romero to “steel.”<\/p>\n \u201cThis time, he felt like steel,\u201d Whittaker told\u00a0The Daily Telegraph<\/a> after his second and most recent fight with Romero. \u201cI was punching and kicking him but it wasn\u2019t doing any damage. He was walking forward through everything. It was weird.<\/p>\n \u201cExcept for my face, all the damage on my body is from me hitting him.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the slow nature of his victory over Yoel Romero, Israel Adesanya feels he proved the Cuban isn’t made of steel.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Adesanya Tweeted<\/a> an image of Romero’s badly battered leg \u2014 a product of his own leg kicks \u2014 and sarcastically refuted the notion that the Cuban is made of anything but flesh and bones.<\/p>\n \u201crOmERo iZ MadE oF STelL!\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/hunYSHwmWk<\/a><\/p>\n — Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) March 8, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n