Cuban gets to feel the burn of Adesanya

Stepping on to the scales for the UFC 248 ceremonial weigh-ins, Kiwi middleweight champion Israel Adesanya pulled a cigar out of his pocket and mimed lighting it, before turning to face Yoel Romero and snapping it in half.

Whether or not the cigar was a Cuban, it was an indication of what Adesanya will look to do to his Caribbean island opponent in Las Vegas this afternoon.

The event was a way to give the fans one last moment of anticipation before the fighters square off in the cage in Las Vegas today. For most UFC events, the official weigh-ins are done before the ceremonial ones, after which the fighters go face to face one last time.

As Adesanya squared up to face Romero, he demanded the 42-yearold Cuban meet his eyes.

It led to an intense staredown between the two that only raised anticipation of the clash, in which Romero has everything to gain and nothing to lose, while Adesanya has everything to lose and little to gain.

During the lead-in to the fight, Romero’s recent record has been a much-noted topic.

The Olympic wrestling silver medallist has lost three of his past four fights but gets a title shot as a challenger handpicked by Adesanya.

Because Romero has knockout power, a decorated career as a wrestler and is a fan favourite, Adesanya and his team identified him as the toughest test available in the middleweight division when consensus challenger Paulo Costa went down with injury.

It will be Romero’s fourth chance to capture UFC gold, but to do so, he has to do something that no one else in the mixed martial arts world has been able to achieve — beat Adesanya.

Adesanya heads into the bout with an 18-0 record, buoyed by a dominant knockout win over former champion Robert Whittaker in a bout for the undisputed championship in October last year.

It was Adesanya’s 14th career win by knockout, and while Romero has been stopped only once in his career — and never in the UFC — the defending champion was clear about his intentions.

“I’m going to do him,” Adesanya said.

The two have jested back and forth in the build-up to a fight which needed little promotion.

Now, as the two prepare to meet in the octagon under the bright lights of Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, there’s only one thing left to do.

“I said ‘I’m a man that can do both: I can talk and I can walk’,” Adesanya said. “But time for talking is over, man. Time for talking is over.”