Israel Adesanya talks during a press conference for UFC 248 at Toyota Center on February 07, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Unbeaten UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya faces a tough test at UFC 248 against Yoel Romero.
The 30-year-old Adesanya is 18-0 in his MMA career, and has been impressive since stepping into the UFC.
Romero, who is 40, is one of the most experienced fighters in the world. However, the veteran has lost his last two bouts.
Adesanya was speaking to the media after an open training session and wasn’t best pleased at facing Romero due to his opponent’s losses.
The Nigerian star claimed he wanted to take his division to new heights and was a fighting champion:
“I want to be active. I want to be fighting.
“Well, I said I really want to fight four times in there. You’ve seen me do it before you see me do five times with a day extra. I still make it a year but I want to be active champion.”
He also named some of the greats he wanted to copy as champion in the Middleweight division:
“I want to do right by the division like GSP [Georges St-Pierre] did at Welterweight, like Demetrious [Johnson] did at Flyweight, like Anderson [Silva] did at Middleweight.
“I want to make the Middleweight division great.”
It should be a great co-main event at UFC 248 but Adesanya questioned why Romero was getting a chance at the bout.
He has lost his previous two fights and the champion highlighted that Romero gets tired in every fight.
Adesanya also spoke about his time in Nigeria and how he contracted malaria eight times when he was a child.
He added that he had better immunity now thanks to his time while growing up, and was confident of remaining as the champion after UFC 248.
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