Thiago Santos blasts Israel Adesanya for lackluster performance at UFC 248; says Yoel Romero clearly won the main event

By calling out the king of the UFC light heavyweight division Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya not only grabbed headlines and eyeballs; he also made it very clear that he wants to make merry with the big boys inside the Octagon.

Well, ask and you shall receive. Jones is away for the time being, due to a recent brush up with the law regarding aggravated DUI and negligent use of firearms, and Adesanya made sure to aim a few digs at the reigning champ while he's down.

In the absence of Jones, his colleague and former opponent Thiago Santos has taken up the mantle from Jones, and decided to rip into the reigning middleweight champion for his lackluster title defense against Yoel Romero at UFC 248.

Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, Santos criticized Adesanya for the woeful performance against Romero and said he believes Romero won that fight, and that Adesanya escaped with the gold by virtue of being the defending champion.

“Yes, Romero won that fight. Horrible fight. There’s not much to say. Romero did his part. He moved forward, tried to bring more of a fight, but the champion was very conservative, so it was a boring fight to watch. There’s no champion when you enter a fight. The champion has to win the fight. It’s absurd when I hear people say that. The champion has to fight hard, just like the challenger.”

Santos even pulled up a comparison to his split decision thriller against Jon Jones while referring to the Adesanya-Romero match-up. He said that he believes his fight against Jones was razor close, and that the win could easily have gone his way, but that the UFC 248 main event had a clear winner - Romero.

“I can’t say that, man, because my fight wasn’t blatant. You can’t say I was robbed in my fight. It was very close, there’s no other way, but the Romero fight, I think Romero clearly won.”