After scoring a typically exclusive knockout when he made his UFC debut in February 2018, Israël Adesanya expressed his dissatisfaction with his own performance.
Not necessarily because he had been poor, but because he was forced to work longer than he had planned to keep Rob Wilkinson away as he finished the contest just after the three-minute mark in the second tower.
Last The Last Stylebender ’said to his knocked down opponent:“ Four guys refused that; you’re the only badass who took it. You intervened and I appreciate it. “
Later that same evening, Yoel Romero turned off the lights of former champion Luke Rockhold in a devastating way and the wheels were set in motion so that the two finally met.
More than two years after that night in Perth Arena, Adesanya defends her world middleweight title against perhaps the most feared man in MMA.
“Israel Adesanya wants to fight Yoel Romero,” said UFC president Dana White before stressing that “No one wants to fight Yoel Romero.”
The same qualities that Adesanya saw and admired at Wilkinson in 2018 are what he hopes to reproduce on March 7 at UFC 248 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The desire to fight the best and prove himself to the world and to define his legacy as one of the great of the sport is the logical explanation of the reason why the 30-year-old player decided to choose a fight with Romero .
As Darren Till said so eloquently – albeit ironically – “I’m not afraid of having no man on this planet”, before remembering that he shares the middleweight division with Romero .
“Outside of Yoel, he’s scary,” added the Scouser after realizing his mistake. But what makes the “Soldier of God” such a formidable adversary and why does Adesanya deserve all the respect in the world for having fought?
Born in 1977 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Romero excelled as a wrestler at the FILA World Wrestling Championships in the 1990s and was crowned world champion in 1999.
After beating 1996 Olympic gold medalist Khadzhimurad Magomedov, it looked like Romero would dominate the world of freestyle wrestling for years. But he was again denied the gold medal in 2002 after being penalized one point against Adam Saitiev.
It was the second time that Saitiev had refused Romero to be recognized as the best in the world, beating the Cuban in the final of the 2000 Olympics. He finished fourth at the 2004 Games, but Romero was already starting to establish himself as one of the most superior athletes on the planet.
During his freestyle wrestling career, Romero defeated three Olympic gold medalists and five different world champions. He also won a medal in five world championships, but it became clear that his talents were better suited to combat sports.
After moving to Germany in 2007, Romero began training with Sergej Kuftin and Zike Simic at the Martial Arts Gym in Nuremberg to make the best use of the incredible physical qualities with which he had been endowed.
In the space of three years, he accumulated a record of 5-0 during promotions in Germany and Poland and joined Strikeforce in 2011.
Although he lost his only fight in the promotion of former lightweight champion Rafael Cavalcante, the world of MMA was on high alert at the prospect of an Olympic silver medalist wreaking havoc against the best of the world.
After suffering a series of neck injuries, Romero was forced to take a two-year break from the sport. But that didn’t stop the UFC from calling, and it made its debut in April 2013.
The “Soldier of God” stopped Clifford Starks with a knockout in the first round, which forced all the contenders in the 185 pound division to straighten up and take note. The former wrestler has proven that he has the ability to strike with world bets by showing his explosive power with a perfectly synchronized flying knee.
He then went on to stop the Ronny Markes Durables in November 2013, before coming back from behind to beat eternal competitor Derek Brunson two months later. He won a decision against Brad Tavares in April and, with a total 8-1 record and four-game winning streak, it quickly became impossible for Dana White and Sean Shelby to ignore Romero.
The Cuban became the first man in 13 years to stop Tim Kennedy at UFC 178, despite controversial circumstances, before arresting former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida in June 2015.
Just over two years in his UFC career and a title shot surely signaled the new monster in the middleweight division.
After defeating Machida, Romero faced Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in December 2015 and scored a controversial split decision that earned him a title eliminator against another former champion of Chris Weidman.
To date, he was known as the “third round” Romero due to his ability to finish fights in the final round and he duly respected the hype by stopping Weidman with a flying knee at Madison Square Garden .
A provisional title opportunity against Robert Whittaker beckoned him and, although he could not win the belt after running out of weight, Romero fought one of the great fights in the history of middleweight at the ‘UFC 213 in July 2017.
Although he lost a unanimous decision, the two men left everything in the octagon and the clamor for a second fight was inevitable. Due to the grueling nature of the match, Romero had to wait for Whittaker’s injuries to heal and duly arrested another Rockhold champion to set up the rematch the fans wanted.
Despite more than doubling his exit from the first fight, Romero was beaten once again by Whittaker and it seemed like the chance to get their hands on UFC gold was gone again.
Quite simply, it is one of the biggest draws in the sport of MMA because it is a freak of nature.
At 42, he gave another performance of “Fight of the Night” against Paulo Costa in 2019 and was unlucky not to get at least one draw.
But given his Olympic pedigree, his athletic prowess and the demands of the champion, Romero will have one last chance to win the coveted UFC title that has so far eluded him.
But that’s not to say that his career inside and outside the octagon was not without controversy.
Romero was not allowed to compete for his country in 2006 when the Cuban Wrestling Federation suspended him for a year for allegedly starting his fight at the 2005 World Championships against Revaz Mindorashvili.
His victory over Kennedy, although impressive, was mired in a debate that became known as the “Stoolgate”. Romero was badly injured at the end of the second round, but got overtime because his corner team left the stool in the octagon and his cutman applied an excessive amount of petroleum jelly that referee John McCarthy was forced to wipe.
The rest period ultimately helped Romero recover enough to arrest Kennedy and claim victory, albeit in questionable circumstances.
Given his impeccable physical condition and his ability to fight at the highest level in his forties, accusations of steroid abuse and physical enhancement supplements have overwhelmed the veteran throughout his career.
In 2016, USADA notified the Cuban of a potential doping violation. However, the fighter and his manager explained that it was because he had ingested a substance after the fight involuntarily.
After USADA confirmed that the supplement contained a prohibited substance, Romero and his team confirmed that they would appeal the decision. Although the typical suspension period is two years, a truncated sentence of six months was observed and the Cuban and his legal team set out to secure damages.
Romero has tested positive for a growth hormone named Ibutamoren, despite the fact that the substance is not listed on the product label. The 42-year-old sued Gold Star Performance Products and subsequently received $ 27.45 million; approximately $ 3 million for lost wages, $ 3 million for reputable damages and $ 3 million for emotional damages. The damage TRIPLED because the company has been “convicted of consumer fraud” under the New Jersey “Consumer Fraud Act”.
You might think that the octagon veteran doesn’t have much to fight after such a monumental win off the court, but UFC gold is still the dream.
Having promised to overtake the legendary Bernard Hopkins and continue fighting for another decade, fans can expect to see the most incredible athlete in UFC history compete until his 50th birthday.
Not since a first Mike Tyson burst onto the scene in the 80s, a fighter has aroused such excitement among fans or fear among his competitors.
And having already stopped several previous champions in his career, Adesanya surely hopes to do the job early in ‘Sin City’, or he may well find himself sprawled on the canvas and be congratulated for taking the fight in the same way that he found Rob Wilkinson when he started at the UFC in 2018.