The Main Event – Israel Adesanya vs Yoel Romero In UFC 248: Latest Odds and UFC Predictions

The UFC returns this weekend with not one, but two mammoth championship fights in the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. The main event features the middleweight clash between undefeated champion Israel Adesanya and his contender Yoel Romero.

In the co-main event and Women's Strawweight division, the ever-impressive Weili Zhang (20-1) will lock horns with the ever-dangerous Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3). The clash down in the Nevada desert is stacking up to be another mouth-watering affair and Bet Today USA has all your UFC predictions.

 Israel Adesanya (-278) vs Yoel Romero (+225)

This middleweight skirmish is shaping up to be an all-out battle of UFC supremacy. Both fighters exemplify polar opposite fighting styles, with Yoel Romero being one of the best floor wrestlers in the division and Izzy Adesanya possessing the strongest all-around game, this fight is one to watch out for.

Adesanya will be defending his crown this weekend and the New Zealand-based Nigerian has seemingly been entrenched as one of the lightest sparks in the UFC for some time. "The Last Stylebender" has earned his middleweight champion status, as he ran up the middleweight ladder in record time. With an 18-0 record, the Nigerian's 2019 campaign saw him ascend to new heights, dispatching Anderson Silva which served as a clear passing of the torch.

After a war of attrition in a five-round thriller against Kelvin Gastelum, Adesanya solidified his position among the middleweight elite by battling through a five-round conflict to win via decision. The jewel in Adesanya's UFC crown came when he put down a one-sided beating on Robert Whittaker in front of the largest crowd in UFC history. His performance was breath-taking, parrying and countering with precision timing which eventually left the "Reaper" on the mat. Adesanya has earned the right to call his own shot for the next challenger and, in-turn, Romero has stepped out on to hostile turf.

Former Cuban Olympic silver medallist Romero was a difficult fighter to peg a few years ago. The "Soldier of God" cut an impressive physical figure and relied on knockouts rather than submissions or takedowns, but this method to his madness proved clinical as he demonstrated a UFC fighting mastermind. The Cuban's string of late knockouts was not a product of luck but of strategy, it seemed he would wear an opponent down and analyze their fight patterns rather than come flying out of the blocks early.

Lyoto Machida, Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold all fell victim to Romero's antics. All three opponents were winning until they were suddenly staring at the lights, as Romero went into his final gear peppering them with shots that were a whisker away from murder. Romero is the fighter who possesses the most danger to Adesanya and this shakes up our MMA predictions which will make it all the more interesting in the eight walls of death.

Zhang Weili (-186) vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk (+145)

Weili makes her first defense of the 115-pound title when she faces off against the previous holder Jonna Jedrzejczyk. The Polish mixed martial arts champion captured the strawweight title in her third UFC fight with a second-round knockout win over Carla Esparza. Over the next two years, Jedrzejczyk proved to be a catalyst in the UFC as she defended her belt five times.

Zhang, on the other hand, has her defense inauguration and is riding a monster 20-fight win streak, proving she can cement a top-vision status. Zhang was awarded her first title shot on home soil against the new champion Jessica Andrade. This shot was set up perfectly and she did not disappoint, throwing a flurry of punches and knees putting Andrade to sleep in the first round.

Zhang is as dangerous as it gets in the Strawweight division. The Chinese brawler is a powerhouse of an athlete and has the technique to mirror it, we can expect another explosive performance. However, "Magnum" has never gone past the fifteen-minute threshold and Jedrzejczyk excels in the championship rounds. MMA betting predicts that if the Pol can stay out of trouble in the first few rounds and avoid the destructive power of Zhang, then Jedrzejczyk may be able to exploit Zhang's gas tank.