Last month it was announced that Paulo Costa who was next in line to face reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was out for at least eight months following a hand injury for which he had to undergo a surgery.
This resulted in former two-time title challenger Yoel Romero calling Israel Adesanya. The newly crowned Kiwi champion even verbally agreed to fight Romero. However, UFC president Dana White wasn’t interested in making that fight as Romero is coming off two back to back losses to Costa and Robert Whittaker.
“[Adesanya] wants to fight Yoel Romero,” White said in a recent interview with Adam’s Apple earlier this month(h/t Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “He wants Romero. So we’re talking about giving Romero a fight coming up soon here and then (Adesanya) will fight the winner of that fight.”
But Israel Adesanya in a recent interview with TMZ said that UFC doesn’t want to make the fight next as it won’t sell well on pay-per-view.
“Man, I already called the guy out. They all say (I backed out). I already said it on JRE (Joe Rogan Experience). I’ve never ever backed out from anyone, I’ve never backed down, I never will,” Adesanya said.
“He’s f*cking getting told by his manager (that I won’t fight him). Yeah, I’ve called the guy out, I’ve said I want to fight him. The UFC don’t think that’s going to sell, but f*ck records, I just want to fight. I want Yoel, but if we can’t make that happen we have some ideas.”
“I said I want Yoel. F*ck records, it’s a great fight. I want to beat all the greatest of this era. I’ve taken (Robert) Whittaker, I’ve taken (Kelvin) Gastelum, I’ve taken (Anderson) Silva,” Adesanya said. (H/T – BJPenn.com)
Do you guys think UFC will make Adesanya vs Romero next?
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