Interesting reason why Jorge Masvidal sent a warning to Israel Adesanya
Jorge Masvidal has a message for UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. He has no beef with the Kiwi Champion. If anything, he has the utmost respect for him. But he trains with the Cuban Middleweight title contender Yoel Romero - who just so happens to be Adesanya's next big challenger.
While Masvidal has a title shot seemingly lined up for him against Kamaru Usman, he's noticed how his ATT teammate Yoel Romero has been in the build to UFC 248 - where he'll be challenging for the Middleweight title.
Talking to ESPN (H/T BJPENN.com), Jorge Masvidal doesn't believe that losing against Paulo Costa was detrimental to him. If anything, his hunger has remained intact after returning to training:
“He’s ready, man. This is a good training camp for him. His mind is right and it’s been right for over a period of time,” Masvidal said . “Before the Izzy fight, he was already getting in shape had a very bitter mouth about his last fight [against Costa] and I understood him because I thought he won as well. Yoel sometimes, a lot of times he fights and takes a couple of weeks off. After that fight, he was just back in the gym, hungry as ever.
He believes that losing to Paulo Costa may have been better in the long run for The Soldier Of God:
“I think maybe that loss, that decision loss might have been good in hindsight because the fire that he’s coming [in with for] this fight, is good. I like what I’m seeing.”
Masvidal had nothing but praise for Israel Adesanya and his striking ability. However, he doesn't believe that he's faced an opponent like Yoel Romero. He elaborated, saying:
“Izzy’s got so much talent, so precise with his striking. But, I don’t think he’s ever faced, well, I know he hasn’t faced anything like Yoel. I’ll elaborate more on that. When Yoel’s at his best, he is one of the best dual-threats that you can come around,” Jorge Masvidal explained. “He can take you down from the clinch, from the single leg, from the double leg, he can grab your ankle and make you do a backflip."
He said that Romero's elbows and knees can send people to a recovery bed. He went on to praise Adesanya's technical efficiency, ability to dictate the pace of a fight, and also his ability to slow his opponents down. But ultimately, his admitted bias has him rooting for his training partner Yoel Romero:
"I think it’s going to be an amazing fight. Obviously I’m biased in this one, I’m going with my boy Yoel. But Izzy’s one of the best guys I’ve seen for a while at 185.”
UFC 248 will have an incredible main event. As Dana White mentioned, it's hard to not respect Israel Adesanya for calling out Yoel Romero - a man who hardly anyone wants to fight in the division.
Despite losing to two top names in Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, he's still considered the most dangerous man in the 185-pound division.