The ambiguous victory of Adesanya, the five-round battle of Zhang with Yenjeychik and the defeat of Safarov: the results of the UFC 248 tournament

The third major tournament of the Absolute Fighting Championship in 2020 took place in Las Vegas. In the main fight of the evening, Israel Adesanya defeated Yoel Romero and held the first defense of the middleweight title. The champion in minimum weight, Weili Zhang and Joanna Yendzheychik, held one of the most uncompromising female fights in history, and the young talent Sean O'Malley won the 11th consecutive career victory. At the same time, the Russian Saparbeg Safarov lost Rodolfo Vieira and suffered a third defeat in the UFC.

As a champion, Adesanya approached the fight with Romero in the status of a favorite. Several factors spoke for him at once. Firstly, he exceeded the opponent in the growth and length of arms, which often became a key factor in all types of martial arts. Secondly, the Cuban always relied on powerful, but single shots, so the New Zealander was required only to adhere to the corporate identity and “fire” him from a distance. Thirdly, the age difference between the two athletes is 12 years, which made us once again think about the endurance of Yoel, and who had previously had problems in this regard.

It was striking how concentrated both athletes looked. But if Romero had previously very often demonstrated such a mood before the fight, then Adesanya accustomed his fans to another. Israel was remembered by many thanks to its shocking statements, mockery of the vis-a-vis and dancing, but this time there was no talk of it. The New Zealander was gloomy and did not even allow himself a smile.

The first round surprised the audience with an extremely slow pace and an almost complete absence of significant events. In the first two and a half minutes, the athletes did not make a single hit, and Romero did ten steps at all. He took a defensive stance, covering his head, and set about waiting for action from the champion. He did not respond with activity, and even the proprietary movement of legs in the style of Muhammad Ali did not help to induce him to attack. As a result, the only vivid episode was the most powerful left overhand performed by Yoel, which made Israel even more perplexed.

The second five-minute turned out to be a little more memorable, but as a whole passed in a similar style. Adesanya occupied the center of the octagon and tried to crush the opponent, but mostly limited to low-kicks. However, the most significant blow again went to Romero. The Cuban abruptly went on the offensive and nearly knocked out, but the champion survived. The rest of the fight continued to be not the most vivid, but incredibly interesting. Israel still could not find the keys to Yoel, and he occasionally, but dangerously "exploded", continuing to escalate the atmosphere.

A turning point was outlined in the final part of the third round. The New Zealander realized that he was in danger of losing his belt and added. Adesanya began to connect his legs more and more often and several times he got a great hit both on the head and on the body. One of the most significant was the sudden front-kick, which passed between the hands of the applicant.

We go the full 25mins at # UFC248!

Israel Adesanya or Yoel Romero? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/e2C9iK8sjc

In anticipation of the fourth five-minute referee Dan Miragliotta approached the fighters and demanded that they work more actively. Adesanya continued to work on Romero's right leg, which eventually turned red. However, he refrained from truly active actions. The Cuban continued in a proprietary manner to pull the opponent onto himself and to rush forward. But despite the fact that the most powerful and dangerous attacks were carried out by him, the champion took in quantity. Joel’s attempts did not help takedown either, none of which was brought to an end.

During the fifth round, Romero gained momentum a little and pleased the audience with a series of swift attacks. His trademark left straight line repeatedly found the head of Adesanya, but he either turned his head back in time or put a block. In the last minute, Yoel tried several times to offer a tight exchange of blows, but he avoided logging in every possible way, often moving away from the enemy with short dashes. However, seconds before the end of the battle, the Cuban nevertheless again issued a couple of powerful hits, coupled with effective avoidance of a kick in the capoeira style. And after the gong, he came close to the New Zealander and shouted something aggressively to him.

However, the judges were more than enough of what Israel offered them. Two of them saw his victory with a minimum score, and another gave the current champion four rounds of five. Fans greeted the verdict with a deafening roar, and Adesanya in response showed them an indecent gesture. However, Romero’s tirade accused the opponent of not wanting to fight: “If you want to see people running, look at Usain Bolt.”

🏆@Stylebender#AndStillpic.twitter.com/qlRKrgTBzS

If the title fight of men was more like a chess game, then the duel of women turned out to be one of the most cruel and spectacular in the history of UFC. The champion in minimum weight Zhang Veili met with the former holder of the title Joanna Yendzheychik, who still holds the record for the number of defenses in this category. The girls beat each other for 25 minutes, which ultimately affected the appearance of the athletes. So, a Chinese woman had a broken nose, and a Polish girl had a serious hematoma on her forehead.

Both girls were very active in the attack and almost unceasingly threw punches with both hands and feet. The five-time world champion in Thai boxing worked much more diverse, but the rival surpassed her in physical strength. Her hits were much more noticeable, but still could not send Yanjeychik to the floor.

At the end of the second round, it might seem that Zhang began to get tired and was unlikely to be able to go the whole distance at full speed, but she quickly came to her senses. Until the final gong, they, together with Yenjeychik, did not slow down and continued to find each other's jaws with blows. As a result, the fate of the title again fell into the hands of the judges, who preferred the Chinese woman. Valey held the first defense and won the 20th victory in a row.

In addition to the two main fights, the tournament in Las Vegas was remembered for a vivid performance of Sean O'Malley. The 25-year-old lightweight champion won the 11th consecutive battle and established himself as one of MMA's top talents. This time, he only had 122 seconds to knock out Jose Quinones. First, he sent him to the canvas using the right hook, and then added the right hi-kick to this and successfully completed the finish.

Unlike the American, Saparbeg Safarov could not extend his successful series in the UFC. In his debut duel in the middleweight, he lost to the super-athletic Rodolfo Vieira. The Russian started well and was noted for several accurate hits, but afterwards he ended up on the floor. Four-time world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu taught the opponent a lesson in wrestling on the ground, after which he “strangled” him with the help of a manual triangle.