Yoel Romero believes former rival Israel Adesanya is "pampered" by the UFC and insists the champion was intimidated by his power.
Adesanya will make his latest bow in arguably one of the sternest examinations of his title credentials against Alex Pereira at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden on November 12.. The Nigerian has come in for criticism for many of his recent fights, including his title defence against Romero back in 2020, where he cruised to a comfortable points victory.
Fans were unhappy with the events which unfolded in the octagon and branded the fight "boring" along with several of Adesanya's later outings as the months continued. And Romero believes his former foe is to blame for "running" during the fight rather than engaging, which saw him depart the UFC shortly afterwards.
"I’m ready to stand in the middle of the octagon right there — and I do, I stand up in the middle of the octagon ready to brawl, ready for blood to be shed and for fans to see a true all-out war," Romero told MMA Fighting during a lengthy rant. “But what happened? He starts to fight and he feels my power, and all of a sudden, what? He starts running away from me. I’m not going to start chasing after you.
"The UFC were pampering him and basically I guess what they wanted was for me to go running after him. No, I’m not going to do that. If he was intimidated and didn’t want to exchange punches with me, that’s on him, not on me. All I did was stand up in there wanting to fight like a man and exchange blows. He didn’t want to do that, that’s on him.
"But it could have been way more than it was. Have you ever seen a boring Yoel Romero fight [aside from Adesanya] — yes or no? That’s my point. You’re bunching me up with Izzy, where, if you take Izzy away, now was there a boring Yoel Romero fight? How many fights does Izzy have that are boring? The blame is not on Yoel Romero.”
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Fans have frequently criticised Adesanya for his "boring" fights and even threatened to stop buying his pay-per-views, despite Adesanya's performances earning him a new lucrative deal which made the second-highest earner on the roster. As his next fight approaches, 'Style Bender' has vowed to move on from his previous performances and deliver a knockout blow against his Brazilian enemy.
"The Romero thing, that was the worst," Adesanya explained on his YouTube channel. "Just the narrative and the voices that were loud. Probably the minority but they're the loudest voices, the eat a** c**s. After that fight with Romero I was like 'But I was fighting, he was just standing there! Why are you blaming me?' But this next fight, I've been saying delayed gratification."
