(03/06/20 7:31pm)
Israel Adesanya undertakes the first defense of his middleweight title belt against No. 3 contender Yoel Romero this Saturday night. They meet as the main event of UFC 248 under the bright lights of Las Vegas.The Last Stylebender overcame champion Robert Whittaker in his last contest to obtain the middleweight title belt, having previously held the interim belt going into the title fight. The Australian was stopped in the second round via TKO, losing the belt in his backyard of Australia to the New Zealander Adesanya.Adesanya looked dominant throughout the fight, rarely looking puzzled by the thought of it being the first title fight of his UFC career. Robert Whittaker was saved by the bell in the first round in what could have been a first-round knockout having been struck to the canvas, the bell saving the Australian from receiving more punishment and an early stoppage to the fight.Yoel Romero has previously lost to Robert Whittaker via decision in 2018, leaving a question mark to whether the Cuban is deserving of his chance at a title shot. With Romero also having lost his two previous bouts including his loss to Robert Whittaker.The Soldier of God obtaining his shot at the title due to number two ranked middleweight Paulo Costa recovering from surgery he had on his bicep back in October. The Cuban does obtain what many believe could be the downfall of The Last Stylebender, a wrestler who is an accurate striker and with his power could cause the opponent all kinds of danger.The Nigerian born fighter remains undefeated following his rise to the top of the middleweight division, and Saturday’s main event will be the first defense of his title since his crowning.The story of Adesanya is remarkable having only arrived on the UFC front little over two years ago, he has already become one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts. Overcoming his idol Anderson Silva via unanimous decision, his first true test against a great of the sport which showcased his true talent on a global scale. He then faced Kevin Gastelum which proved to be his toughest challenge to date, going five rounds against the American earning the interim title in what was an incredibly close fight with all three judges having the fight tied going into the last round. Adesanya even looked hurt at times, yet overcoming this adversity made his win even more impressive. The fight had everything, and even won fight of the year for 2019.How could it go?Yoel Romero has only ever lost one fight via KO/TKO in his entire career and that was before he signed to the UFC. His other three losses being in way of decision against challenging opponents in Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker (twice). The Cuban has won 11 of his 13 fight victories via TKO/KO showcasing the kind of challenge facing Adesanya in which should the Cuban become victorious it will most likely be through stoppage.Meanwhile, Adesanya has never lost a fight. Therefore, it is difficult to predict how Romero may potentially win. It is highly unlikely that Romero will be able to outscore the newly crowned champion over five rounds. For this reason, the Cuban will mainly be looking to shock Adesanya with his power in what will most likely be his only way to overwhelm him and potentially earn the middleweight title.Adesanya will be keen on continuing to cement his legacy across the middleweight division, a first KO/TKO loss on Romero’s UFC record would be another impressive achievement for the 30-year-old. Although, it may take five championship rounds for him to retain his title for the first time with the 42-year-old clearly being no pushover. Keeping a distance between him and Romero with his significant reach and height advantage allowing him to showcase his kickboxing ability could be key to how the fight develops. The champion is a clear favorite to win, with decision being the most likely route against a fierce challenger who has no history of losing via knockout in the UFC. If not having ended the fight earlier as many are expecting from the newly crowned champion.
(02/21/20 7:33pm)
Las Vegas hosts the long-awaited rematch of Wilder vs Fury 2 this Saturday night.Following a controversial split-decision draw the first time out, Deontay Wilder will be putting his WBC world heavyweight title on the line for a second time against Tyson Fury. The Gypsy King is the current lineal heavyweight champion following his historic victory over Wladimir Klitschko back in 2016.Both fighters remain undefeated heading into the rematch, with the Bronze Bomber holding an illustrious record of 42-0-1, 41 of his victories being in the form of knockout. It looked almost certain that he had added a further knockout to his record back in Los Angeles during their first fight before Fury remarkably rose from a knockdown and beat referee Jack Reiss’s count to continue the round. The knockout specialist hit Fury with an overhand right and a left hook to follow, confirming the 31-year olds fall to the canvas. Fury recently revealed he was indeed out for a few seconds before his dramatic rise and continuation in the fight.Deontay Wilder had been outboxed for large durations of the fight and struggled to regain his energy following his heavy blow to Fury. Wilder was targeting a knockout on Fury--once he failed to achieve this, Fury knew he could win the fight if he got to the judge’s scorecards. Yet the boxing world was left astonished at the result of a split decision draw. Boxing fans were left furious, with many believing Fury had undoubtedly won the fight. One judge even scored the fight 115-111 in favor of the Bronze Bomber.In preparation for the rematch, Deontay Wilder took on Luis Ortiz for a second time in his career, obtaining a devastating knockout of the Cuban. Wilder previously breezed past Dominic Breazeale in the way of a first-round knockout against the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight world title.Tyson Fury is hoping to rise to the occasion of fighting at MGM Grand on Saturday, just like he did last time out in Vegas, where he obliterated Tom Schwarz--a rising heavyweight star--within two rounds. The Manchester-born fighter followed this up with a contest against Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin. Fury obtained a large cut above his right eye in the third round, which caused a question of whether he would be able to continue, let alone win, the fight. Despite the early scare, the Brit dominated the fight, earning a unanimous victory.How could it go?Deontay Wilder is known as the hardest hitter in the sport. With 98% of his victories being knockouts, it is clear that there is only one plan for the Bronze Bomber: make sure Tyson Fury will be unable to hear the final bell. Much like the first fight, Wilder will most likely wait patiently for the perfect opportunity to knockout his opponent. As seen in the Wilder vs Ortiz 2 fight, Wilder waits for fatigue to kick in before unleashing any lethal hits on the opponent. It’s at that point when he will most likely catch the opponent off guard. He happily allowed both Fury and Ortiz to win the individual rounds, with only one method of victory on his mind: the knockout. Should Wilder not get the knockout win, he may be in big trouble as the judges may not be as favorable towards the American this time out.For Tyson Fury, he has stated in the build-up to the contest that he is going for a knockout. Considering how unfortunate Fury got with the scorecards in the first fight, despite outboxing the Alabaman for much of the fight, he has no trust in the judges to favor him should the outcome go a similar route. Therefore, he may only have intensions of knocking out Wilder. This may benefit Wilder if Fury approaches the fight this way--he may leave himself more open to the knockout power of Wilder.Despite what Fury has predicted, this could all be mind games. He has the capability to knockout Wilder, yet going for such a route of victory could be a risk. It can be argued that going for 12 rounds once again with the Bronze Bomber is just as much of a risk, yet after going 12 rounds with the American the first time, Fury may be more wary of the American. Should Wilder keep his composure throughout the fight, he will be prepared to strike another devastating punch that could end the fight in a flash. Therefore, there are two main conclusions in my eyes to how this fight ends. One being Fury gets the outcome he deserved the first time out, winning via decision, or Wilder adds another brutal knockout to his collection.