Following weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed the Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight title against Yoel Romero.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN was first to break the news.
BREAKING: Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) vs. Yoel Romero (@YoelRomeroMMA) will headline UFC 248 in Las Vegas per Dana White. Adesanya was itching to fight. Big one in the desert on March 7. pic.twitter.com/pnx6M5aNoW
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 17, 2020
Adesanya became New Zealand’s first ever undisputed UFC champion after defeating Australia’s Rob Whittaker at UFC 243 last October.
Adesanya was expected to make the first defence of his title against undefeated Paula Costa, but a bicep injury left the Brazilian unavailable.
Adesanya will instead make the first defence of his middleweight title against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in Las Vegas on March 8 (AEDT).
Former middleweight champion Rob Whittaker was also booked to feature on the card but had to pull out due to personal reasons.
UFC 248 will feature two title fights with Chinese champion Weili Zhang making the first defence of her strawweight champion against Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
