UFC president Dana White says that fighters have expressed their belief that facing Yoel Romero is quite the task.
Romero is set to challenge Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight championship. The title bout will be held this Saturday night (March 7) inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. While “The Soldier of God” has dropped his last two bouts, he’s still considered to be a credible threat to Adesanya’s title.
Dana White Says Fighters Compare Facing Romero To Fighting Concrete
During a media scrum (video via Las Vegas Review-Journal), UFC president Dana White said that fighters have felt like they’re fighting a piece of concrete when sharing the Octagon with Romero (h/t BJPenn.com).
“I think the fascinating thing about when you talk about Yoel Romero, and losing these fights, is that when you talk to the guys he fought, let them tell you the story of how the fight played out,” White said (video via Las Vegas Review-Journal) Every time they hit him, it hurt them. They said it’s literally like fighting a piece of concrete, and nobody that’s ever fought him wants to fight him again. They don’t wanna fight him again. Those are the type of things that would make a guy who’s the champ say ‘I don’t need that s***’, right? He’s [Adesanya] opting to fight Yoel Romero. If you don’t like that, you’re not a fan of fighting and you probably shouldn’t watch this fight anyway.”
Romero received his shot at Adesanya when Paulo Costa had to undergo surgery. Romero has dropped decision losses to Robert Whittaker and Costa back-to-back. Some believe that “The Soldier of God” deserved the nod for both fights.
There has been concern over whether or not Romero will make weight on Friday. He failed to make the 185-pound limit for his rematch with Whittaker, making that bout a non-title fight. Romero insists that he’s on schedule with his weight-cutting.
