UFC president Dana White admits he made a mistake giving Yoel Romero a title fight against Kiwi middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Fans were left bitterly disappointed with the highly anticipated main event, as Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title against Romero via unanimous decision at UFC 248 at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena on Sunday (NZ time).
Romero was quick to blame Adesanya for a lacklustre showpiece event, accusing the Nigerian-born star of evading him for much of the match.
But Adesanya said there was only one person to blame and he was backed up by White, with both agreeing Romeo was the reason.
White said he overruled his matchmakers to make the fight, but now saw that was a huge mistake on his part.
"The matchmakers didn't love that fight and didn't want to make that fight," White said.
"They did not want to make Romero v Adesanya, but the goofy fan in me said, 'Are you s**ting me? Come on, this will be a fun fight to do, the fact that he wants to fight a guy who nobody wants to fight'.
"Now, hindsight is 20/20, we probably shouldn't have done that fight. We probably should have waited for [Paulo] Costa."
While White was critical of Romero, he also said Adesanya only seemed to perform at a high level when his opponents do.
He pointed to Adesanya's past performances and indicated the champion's likely next defence against Brazil Costa would further prove his point.
"I believe Israel Adesanya fights to the level of his opponent.
"The Anderson Silva fight was similar to that. Then you think about the [Kelvin] Gastelum fight, it was a war - Gastelum goes after him and tries to take his head off.
"[Robert] Whittaker is going after him trying to take his head off. That fight was great.
"You better believe Paulo Costa is going to go after him. That fight should be ridiculous... this is the fight to make, this is the fight I want to see.
"I guarantee you, when that fight happens, you'll hear me going crazy about that one.
"That fight's gonna be ridiculous, because Paulo Costa will move forward, he will not stop punching, he's gonna throw big shots and try to knock him out, and Israel's gonna fight."
