Yoel Romero’s Still Driving For Fight With Israel Adesanya, Says He’s Really Undefeated in Recent Fights

As it stands right now, it doesn’t look like Yoel Romero’s going to battle the UFC’s middleweight champ Israel Adesanya next. But that hasn’t stopped the powerful and decorated wrestler from campaigning for the fight.

Adesanya’s call for a scrap with Romero

Late last month, Adesanya turned heads throughout MMA by calling for a fight with Romero. The expectation had been that Paulo Costa would be next for the new middleweight champ. After all, Costa has gone undefeated in the UFC and he defeated Romero by decision in August. But, after it was confirmed that Costa has undergone bicep surgery, and will be sidelined until and or after spring, Adesanya challenged Romero.

Romero emphatically agreed to fighting the champ, But, Dana White proceeded to say that the UFC is looking at another bout for the decorated wrestler. The consensus has been that the reason the UFC isn’t moving forward with Adesanya – Romero, is because the latter has lost three of his last five fights.

Romero’s latest comments about fighting Adesanya

Well, recently Romero appeared on Ariel Helwani’s “MMA Show”, and the Cuban star made it clear he hasn’t abandoned his drive for a fight with Adesanya. Here’s some of what the 42-year-old had to say about Adesanya, as well as his recent losses (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“I’m staying ready for the fight because I’m still hungry,” Romero said. “I want this fight to happen because many people talk, ‘Who is the true [champion]? Who is the real champion of middleweight?’ And the people know who it is because everybody has seen what happened the last three fights before. Now Israel has the belt, the people want to see who is the real champion.”

“The people see that I am losing three fight. Yes, I’m losing three fight,” Romero said. “But when you ask them, inside their soul, ‘Did Yoel Romero lose?’ Yoel Romero did not lose. Yoel Romero is still the winner. Now you see what happened, the people want to see the really best people fight. Who is the best middleweight right now? I fight everybody, the best people in my division, the best fighters, and beat them. I not lose. I beat everyone. I feel like the day when I lose, I’m ready for the day when I lose because everybody have the beginning and everybody have the end of their career. But it’s not my day. I’m still training, I’m still hungry. The day when it comes and I lose I say, ‘Okay, today I lose it because it is what it is.’

There’s no denying that Romero’s recent losses to Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa took place in very, very close fights. All three were via decision, and in his second loss to Whittaker last summer, a lot of people, including one judge, scored the fight for Romero.

But, you would think if the UFC was willing to ignore Romero’s recent defeats, they would have jumped on this fight by now. In other words, it really looks like Romero need to return to the win column before he fights for the 185 crown again.