MMA

UFC 248: Championship Doubleheader Preview

Published

3 years ago

March 5, 2020

The UFC is back in Las Vegas this weekend with another beyond stellar title fight doubleheader.

In the UFC 248 co-main event, record breaking former UFC strawweight queen, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, will look to become a 2-time world champion when she takes on current title holder, Zhang Weili.

With 5 consecutive title defenses under her belt, Jedrzejczyk enters this contest having dropped 3 of her last 5 with all of those defeats coming in title bouts. She’ll have her hands full with a surging Chinese “Magnum” in the form of Weili, a newly minted champ who put on the performance of a lifetime last August in her own backyard by dispatching the ultra dangerous now former champ, Jessica Andrade, in just 42-seconds.

Can the Polish sneakerhead enter phase two of the “Joanna Champion” era on Saturday night? The oddsmakers currently have her at +140 with Weili currently setting at -170. Regardless of whom you have winning what very well could be a battle for the ages, you have to like those odds for JJ if she can find a way to keep the fight at distance. If Weili can close the gap and get her hands on Jedrzejczyk, it could be another short and violent night.

After Weili and Jedrzejczyk do battle, two men who are arguably the most fascinating middleweights on the planet will close out the show when Israel Adesanya makes the first defense of his UFC middlweight world title against Yoel Romero.

If styles make fights, then this one has to be one more intriguing title battles we’ve seen on paper. The sleek and stylish showman with an other worldly kickboxing base takes on a 42-year-old freak of nature Cuban Freestyle Wrestler with devastating knockout power in a fight that we just can’t imagine not delivering.

Dubbed as Anderson Silva 2.0, Adesanya has become a mixed martial arts megastar since making his UFC debut just over 2 years ago. In that short time, “The Last Stylebender” has a record of 7-0 inside the Octagon.

Adesanya is a sizable favorite over Romero, with his odds ranging from -255 to as short as -300. Romero (+215 to +240) has lost three of his last four and only got this fight because the undefeated champ basically asked for Romero by name. Romero would be a bigger underdog, but his strong wrestling will give him a chance to neutralize Adesanya’s pinpoint striking.

Here is the full card for UFC 248 ‘ Adesanya vs. Romero’ as it stands today:

PPV Card (10 p.m. ET)

Middleweight Championship Bout
Israel Adesanya (18-0) vs. Yoel Romero (13-4)

Strawweight Championship Bout
Zhang Weili (c) (20-1) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3)

Lightweight Bout
Beneil Dariush (17-4-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (11-1-1)

Welterweight Bout
Neil Magny (21-7) vs Li Jingliang (17-5)

Welterweight Bout
Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7)

Preliminary Card (ESPN)

Bantamweight Bout
Sean O’Malley (10-0) vs. Jose Alberto Quinonez (8-3)

Lightweight Bout
Mark Madsen (9-0) vs. Austin Hubbard (11-3)

Middlweight Bout
Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbek Safarov (9-2)

Middleweight Bout
Gerald Meerschaert (30-12) vs. Deron Winn (6-1)