Adesanya, Zhang carry global appeal into UFC 248 title bouts

Israel Adesanya sat down in a crowded room at UFC’s Las Vegas training center and greeted crowd in English and Mandarin. He apologized for his relative lack of proficiency in second langu, which he learned during his kickboxing career in China.

“If I’d had a Chinese girlfriend back n, maybe I’d be fluent,” Adesanya said with a grin. “But if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Nigeria-born, New Zealand-raised UFC middleweight champion has never lost in c. He is also a charismatic, multilingual citizen of world who appears to be next fighter in line for superstardom with UFC, which would love to capitalize on his potential for global appeal.

Yet Adesanya (18-0, 14 KOs) kws his aspirations hang in balance on every fight. He intends to stay on course when he takes on fearsome Brazilian veteran Yoel Romero (13-4) on Saturday night in main event of UFC 248 in his first defense of an undisputed title belt.

“A lot is on line in this fight,” Adesanya said. “I don’t kw what odds are, but I feel like underdog. I feel like a lot of people want to see me fall in this fight. This is nature of what we’ve created. We like to build people up, and we like to tear m down because we see inadequacy in ourselves from way y’re shining.”

Adesanya actually is a solid favorite in main event of UFC’s latest pay-per-view show at T-Mobile Arena. penultimate bout also has global appeal, with new Chinese strawweight champion Zhang Weili defending her belt against former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland.

Although Adesanya is telling himself that he’s underdog, most everyone else is expecting an impressive performance from champion who has taken over UFC division long dominated by Anderson Silva. Adesanya won his title with a kckout of Robert Whittaker last October, establishing himself as world’s top 185-pounder — and picking up all distractions and challenges that come along with distinction.

Adesanya speaks about downside of success just as openly as he discusses his plans to thrash Romero.

“ leeches are everywhere,” Adesanya said. “ snakes, vultures. y usually circle around dead, deceased creatures, but I’m thriving. I’m living. I’ve tightened my circle. re’s definitely been a lot of people I’ve cut off as recently as this week. It’s unfortunate, because t all your homies can grow with you.”

Romero turns 43 years old next month, and famously musclebound fighter has lost three of his last four bouts by decision. This matchup is his first chance to fight for an undisputed UFC title belt.

Zhang (20-1, 10 KOs) and Adesanya both burst onto UFC scene in 2018 after years of toil in smaller promotions. ir talents became undeniable, and both capitalized on ir first title shots with victories that boosted promotion’s visibility outside rth America.

Zhang became first Chinese champion in UFC history last August with her impressive stopp of Jessica Andrade. Her first defense is a difficult matchup with Jedrzejczyk, who held strawweight title from March 2015 to vember 2017, when Rose Namajunas dramatically stopped previously unbeaten champion.

Jedrzejczyk lost three of four fights, including a failed flyweight title shot against Valentina Shevchenko, in a rough 13-month span that she attributed to trouble in her personal life. She claims to be refocused and determined to recapture her belt, and she has been tably confrontational in her promotion of this fight with Zhang.

Jedrzejczyk also got in trouble with UFC and insulted Zhang when she posted a meme on social media linking Chinese champion to coronavirus.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I like it,” Jedrzejczyk said. “This is how I motivate myself. Soon I’m going to retire. I made my money. Stepping in re and fighting for title, I feel like a winner already.”