Fans left outraged after the unsatisfying main event

BY MARCEL MARIAK

Imagine spending a substantial sum of money to travel to Las Vegas and attend a UFC event that has been hyped up as one of the greatest fights of the year. Then attending the event only to watch two grown men run around in circles for almost half an hour. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to the fans which attended UFC 248 on March 7th.

In the main event, UFC middleweight champion, and undefeated fighter, Israel Adesanya was set to take on the famously durable and sturdy Yoel Romero. In the lead up to the event, the UFC, as they do with most fights, hyped up the bout as one of the must-watch performances of the year. In reality, the battle ended up being one of the most tedious and stale UFC fights ever. It left many in the mixed martial arts community feeling as though a mockery had been made of the sport.

The spectacle: From the starting bell, it was clear that spectators were in for an odd fight. When the bout started, both Adesanya and Romero took about three steps towards each other and then stood still. For what seemed like an eternity, Romero stood with his hands up and feet planted. At the same time, Adesanya jumped in circles around him looking for a way to attack. Once the crowd in attendance got frustrated and began to boo and heckle the fighters, Adesanya attempted to throw a lead-hook which Yoel dodged and responded with an overhead strike. After the brief exchange, both fighters went back to jumping around the ring and feigning attacks.

At the end of the first round, the crowd was livid with the lack of aggression shown between the two fighters. Usually, the crowd’s insults tend to motivate the competitors to fight harder; unfortunately, this was not one of those fights. The second and third rounds were just as pedestrian as the first; and it seemed that the fighters would stop at nothing to make an embarrassment of themselves. Yoel Romero especially went above and beyond with his attempt at making a mockery of the UFC: his moves in the round included dropping onto one knee at random times during the fight, spinning his arms in circles like a child, and throwing punches at Adesanya’s leg, and attempting a somersault takedown (really?). Of course, the champion wasn’t willing to retaliate with any sort of attack. So, the fighters continued their cabaret dance performance to the sound of the crowd’s heckles for the duration of the second round. As the fight dragged on into the championship rounds, the audience was so bored that they started their own light-show with their phone flashlights in an attempt to pass the time. The referee also had to remind the fighters that, “the judges need something to score, you’re getting paid for a championship fight”. Despite the crowd’s insults and referee’s warning, the fighters continued to jump in circles with minimum engagement. In an attempt to catch his breath (or maybe to win an Oscar), Romero pretended to get poked in the eye midway into the fourth round, which only interrupted an already dull bout. As the final bell rang, the crowd was livid with the fighters’ performances. Israel Adesanya was declared the winner by unanimous decision and retained his championship belt.

The aftermath: The embarrassing main-event performance failed to live up to any of its pre-fight hype. Thanks to their embarrassing performances, Adesanya and Romero managed to set a new UFC record for the least amount of strikes ever thrown in a championship bout. In response to the crowd’s boos after the fight, Israel Adesanya found it fitting to flip the audience the bird and pretend as if his performance wasn’t a mockery of mixed martial arts. In the post-fight interview, Israel stated that he did what he had to do to win the fight. Unfortunately, when you’re defending your championship belt, jumping in circles and killing time simply doesn’t cut it.

As MMA fans, it’s sometimes difficult for us to see the fight from the perspective of a fighter. Oftentimes, there’s more to a matchup than meets the eye. Sadly, this particular performance was nothing short of an embarrassment. If the UFC doesn’t create any stricter rules or penalties that force fighters to engage during the fight, it might not be the world’s leading fight promotion for much longer.