UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Zhang vs. Jędrzejczyk
Joanna Jędrzejczyk, DEC
Very tough fight, toughest fight on paper in Joannas career aside from Schevchenko, still think she has it in her.

Not that tough, but we'll see.

* Edited at 12.03.2019, 10:39 AM ET *

Not the biggest fan of the potential Whittaker vs Cannonier matchup. It’ll probably be a great fight, but I would rather have seen Whittaker go up against Till.

 Either way, I can see why this matchup is in the works, from a rankings perspective at least.

Whittaker vs. Cannonier
Robert Whittaker, DEC
I like this match up for this im going for whittaker by decision

Quiñones vs. O'Malley
Sean O'Malley, TKO, R2
lol at 100% O'Malley

Zhang vs. Jędrzejczyk
Weili Zhang, SUB, R2
GOO CHINA!!!!!

Looks like Adesanya will Be defending his title against Yoel Romero at 248!

And thus ends the adesanya era

Zhang vs. Jędrzejczyk
Weili Zhang, TKO, R1
If rose can knockout Joanna Zhang should put her out cold with in a round with ease

MMA math at its finest.

Man, I don’t know.

Yoel may have to the tools to beat Adesanya, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to implement them.

 This could be a true to test of how good Adesanya’s TD defense truly is. But Yoel doesn’t seem to take everyone down. If Yoel chooses to stand and throw hands with Adesanya he could be in for a long night of getting picked apart, but who knows.

 Kelvin did win 2 rounds against Adesanya and was able to take him down a time or two but he couldn’t keep him on the mat. However, that last part seems to be the case with Gastelum in other fights as well.

 Whittaker didn’t really seem himself when he faced off against Adesanya, to me at least. I personally felt like he was being a little too wild with his striking and almost seemed a little desperate. Whittaker was definitely winning round one until he got dropped, and after watching the fight a second time around he seemed to be winning round two as well. However, I wasn’t paying the closest of attention that second watch through, so I very well could be wrong.

 If Romero can fight somewhat patiently and not rush in constantly he may able to do some good damage on the feet. Matter of fact, that’s exactly what he did with Whittaker in their second fight. I rewatched it a few months ago and Romero hardly threw any strikes the first few minutes of the first round and was very patient the second round as well. Granted he lost those two rounds, but I think it was a smart move. I mean, he arguably won that fight. 

 All of that being said, patience in the first round or two MIGHT be a key to success for Romero in his fight with Adesanya. That and the potential of getting Adesanya on the ground and punishing him. I think waiting until the third round or so to go for the TD might be a smart tactic as well. Then again I’m not a fighter, just a big fan.

I’ve got Adesanya winning by a 50-45/49-46 Decision, but I’ll definitely be rooting for Romero. Even if he doesn’t get the W, I hope he beats the piss out of Adesanya. No one who fights Yoel seems to be the same afterwards.

On a side note, it seems like I read recently that Adesanya pictures this being a wrestling match. And a few months ago he said Khabib isn’t the only guy who can maul people on the ground(hinting at himself). 

 If Adesanya’s foolish enough to think he can get on the ground and outwrestle Romero he might as well give up the belt now. I can’t imagine he’s that stupid.

Romero is an Olympic wrestle who hits like a truck.
Safe to say he's Izzy's biggest challenge to date.
I was an Izzy fan but his head got so big even before he won the belt. His interview's are so cringy and it's not on purpose like cejudo or Colby. 
Anywhere that fight happens I see Izzy getting ko'd stiff. 

Izzy shoulda fought Jones. Woulda been a good super fight. Romero gonna squash it.

Dariush vs. Klose
Beneil Dariush, SUB, R2
This card already looking stacked and Izzy vs Romero isn't even final yet.

I think a matchup with Jones would’ve been a little premature, but would still love to see that fight. Because of the trash Izzy’s been talking, I’d say Jones goes in and makes him look like a total fool.

 I too think Adesanya is a mega-******. I was a fan of his after the Silva fight. The respect he showed by bowing after the fight made him seem like a class act. Then he did the watch-back commentary of that fight to promote his bout with Gastelum... showed what a pompous ******* he actually is. And he’s only gotten worse. The walk out for the Whittaker fight is where he completely lost me.

* Edited at 01.08.2020, 8:46 PM ET *

Thank God for that edit comment option, huh?

Dariush vs. Klose
Drakkar Klose, DEC
Love my boy Dra "the" Kkar

I'm going all blue corner for the top 3 fights 

I think JJ is gonna get it back. She's stated in an interview that she's been going through a tough breakup with her fiance over the past year when she lost. Now she's single and getting that good D, which is why she looked amazing against Waterson. 

I gotta go with Killa Gorilla against Whittaker. Cannonier looks so good at 185. He has crazy power for that division and Whittaker likes to brawl. 

I also gotta take Kattar over Stephens. I love Stephens I was rooting for him to kill Yair but Kattar seems like he's getting into his prime. He also just went 3 rounds with Zabit which is great experience. 

Same.