UFC 248: Weili’s title defense delivers while Adesanya’s flops

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, March 7, 2020 | 6:56 p.m.

Updated Saturday, March 7, 2020 | 11:02 p.m.

Their faces were swollen and their steps were measured as they headed out of T-Mobile Arena and towards their transportation to the hospital.

The aftermath of the women’s strawweight championship bout between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejcyk in the co-main event of UFC 248 underscored the 25-minute war they engaged in. In what was immediately considered the greatest women’s fight in UFC history, Weili defeated Jedrzejcyk via split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48).

“I wasn’t really sure that I got it,” Weili said immediately afterwards in the octagon. “It was a great performance. We’re both great martial artists.”  

The win was the first title defense by Weili, the UFC’s first Chinese champion, against the division’s longest-tenured champion, Jedrzejcyk, who swore she was coming to regain her belt with the best version of herself. She wasn’t lying.  

Jedrzejcyk may have landed the bout's biggest punches, rocking Zhang in the third round with a straight right in addition to combinations throughout the fight. But Zhang was slightly busier, and that ended up being the difference.

All three judges had the fight tied going into the fifth round, and two of them thought Zhang deserved the nod in the decisive frame.

“We both put on a hell of a performance,” Jedrzejcyk said. “My head was swelling on and on and it was bothering me.”

Jedrzejcyk suffered a giant hematoma stretching across her forehead while her own hands ballooned the Zhang’s right cheek. But both fighters refused to quit.

The co-main event overshadowed a highly disappointing headlining bout between middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero. The two hardly exchanged at all, with Romero daring Adesanya to come forward and the champion instead playing it safe with leg kicks and the occasional jab.

The judges gave Adesanya a unanimous-decision win (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) that drew boos from the crowd.

“It was an odd fight but I did what I had to do,” Adesanya said. “I picked him apart.”

“He does this to get you into a false sense of security. My coaches said we need 25 minutes of sharpness and focus. I wish I could have touched him a little more but he didn’t want to engage.”

Adding to the bizarreness, Romero screamed into the microphone post-fight and blamed Adesanya for the forgettable nature of their fight.

“The people want to see a real fight,” Romero said. “The real champion needs to stay here and fight. That’s what the people want to see here.”

At least the fans in the somewhat sparsely packed venue got their fight fill elsewhere. Before the Weili vs. Jedrzejcyk slugfest, another one developed for a decisive 30 seconds in a lightweight bout.

Beneil Dariush was the last one standing, as he knocked Drakkar Klose out cold with a left hand 1 minute into the second round.

A pair of welterweight bouts to open the main card also had their moments. Neil Magny and Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira wound up the winners.

Magny bounced back from a rough opening four minutes to beat Li Jingliang by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Oliveira beat Max Griffin by split decision (28-27, 28-27, 27-28).

In a statistical oddity, the fighter in the red corner won all 11 fights at UFC 248, including the preliminaries — full results are available at the bottom of the page — and the two champions retaining their titles. Adesanya will have some work to do to repair his image, though.

It would arguably be even worse if fellow champion Weili hadn’t delivered in a big way in the fight prior. Weili’s win at least gave fans one memorable title fight on the pay-per-view card.

“She did great,” Jedrzejcyk said. “I’m very happy that we gave a good fight.”  

Pre-fight

The UFC’s international stronghold is on display in the locally based mixed martial arts’ promotion’s third pay-per-view card of the year tonight at T-Mobile Arena.

UFC 248 features a pair of title fights that collectively represent four different nationalities — none of which are American. Fighters from three more countries round out the five-fight main card, which begins momentarily through ESPN+.

There’s so much diversity that UFC 248 feels more like the annual International Fight Week, which takes place in July in Las Vegas. The two champions, middleweight Israel Adesanya and women’s strawweight Weili Zhang, hail from New Zealand and China, respectively, but have strong ties elsewhere.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Zhang spent the training camp ahead of her UFC 248 bout against Polish former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Thailand and Dubai. Adesanya stuck closer to home to prepare for a bout with Cuban Yoel Romero but he’s globetrotted throughout his life.

Born in Nigeria, Adesanya also spent time in Ghana as a child and later in China as his professional kickboxing career took off. He’s been among the fastest-risers in UFC history, becoming champion less than two years after joining the promotion.

He demanded a bout against Romero, who escaped Cuba and stayed in Germany before emigrating to the U.S., for his first title fight and eventually got his wish. The 42-year-old Romero is known as one of the most powerful wrestlers in the UFC while the 30-year-old Adesanya’s attack is more centered on striking.

Similar intriguing stylistic matchups fill the main card. In the lightweight fight directly before the title bouts, Iranian submission-grappler Beneil Dariush faces American wrestler Drakkar Klose.

A pair of opening welterweight bouts, Neil Magny vs. Li Jingliang and Alex Oliveira vs. Max Griffin, should feature a lot of striking fireworks.

All five bouts are pretty evenly matched with not a single favorite of more than minus-250 (risking $2.50 to win $1) on the main card. It should be group of fights that draw interest from all corners of the world.

Stay tuned to lasvegasssun.com for live coverage of the main card and look below for full results from the preliminary card.

· Bantamweight mega-prospect Sean O'Malley improved to 11-0 in mixed martial arts and secured his second knockout in the octagon with a win over Jose Alberto Quinonez at 2:02 of the first round.

· In a Fight of the Night candidate, Mark Madsen edged Austin Hubbard via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a lightweight bout.

· Rodolfo Vieira beat Saparbek Safarov by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 2:58 of the first round in their middleweight bout.

· Gerald Meerschaert submitted Deron Winn with a rear-naked choke at 2:13 of the third round of their middleweight bout.

· The judges rendered a split decision in a featherweight bout between Giga Chikadze and Jamall Emmers with the former getting the narrow edge with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29.

· Danaa Batgerel defeated Guido Cannetti by knockout at 3:01 of the first round in their bantamweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.