Yoel was conserving his energy for training the next morning.

Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk are to blame.. That fight was so astronomically great, the universe was just balancing itself out with Izzy and Yoel to prevent from imploding.

Yoel "the olympic wrestler that doesnt wrestle" Romero

"Everyone's got a plan until they dont get punched in the face"

Khabib: "You're not a real Mexican". Uncle Chael: "That begs the question: Just how Mexican is Tony Ferguson?"

Izzy: u hit me. Romero: no, u hit me.

To quote the great Stephen A. Smith: "We learned nothing."

Yoel was conserving his energy. The whole fight.

*5 entire rounds* Romero: Hit me Izzy: I can't let you get close

It’s ok, we can sacrifice this fight to the MMA Gods. It’s tribute for the Khabib/Tony fight

Romero was able to extend his lungs to the last rounds just to do nothing

I'll never get tired of saying it: Chael is one of the best journalists - PERIOD. Content, analysis, pace, storytelling, it's all there.

“This one was the cure for insomnia.” Wow quite a burn Uncle Chael.

Did Yoel do enough to win the fight? No Did Izzy beat Yoel 'properly'? 100% No. Co-main event was unreal. 💯

Good break down. Could see Izzy was confused, even his corner was stumped. What do I do? Don't know Izzy, just kick him and see if he does something?

It's Israel's job to defend the belt but it was Romeros job to GO GET THAT BELT.

i like romero but he played it safe and stayed in one place, adesayna wasnt going to move in and get smashed. reyes went after jones because he wanted to win, romero didnt

Chael : dont want to say this fight os terrible Also chael: this fight was terrible

When Izzy felt Romero's over hand his fight strategy went out the window and he played it safe!

yeah well, let's just pretend this fight never happened. The co main had everything we could ask for.

Romero: izzy is a counter striker, what if there is nutin to counter *taps his head* Work smarter not harder, Izzy: *baffled*

"Romero's controller has disconnected"

Yoel didn’t move and Izzy didn’t engage. Izzy called out Yoel which showed that he wanted to make a statement against a terrifying opponent but he played defense. I was rooting for Yoel but he went in there like if he was showing up for a check and thats that. All in all the women showed up and put on a hell of a show.

“This fight was the cure for insomnia”. Chael is a SAVAGE! 😂

"This one was the cure for insomnia" LMAO

Yoel "feeling kinda cute, might just chill tonight" Romero

Chael looks like he’s a firefighter on the side

Adesanya was more active, Yoel looked like he just didn’t care,Yoel tried to take Adesanya down 3 times ALL STUFFED, it was weird but Adesanya outworked Romero who really wanted just one big punch.

Yoel fought like he put 1 million on himself to lose.

Yoel"statue of God"Romero

In Yoels favor, everytime he took a step forward Izzy took 3 backwards and circled. Being the much shorter guy, this made it almost impossible for Yoel to close the distance. He even ran at Izzy a few times, but Izzy wasn't even looking for the counter. It was like watching a bullfighter that didnt want to hurt the bull.

What is Izzy biggest weapon? His ability to read fighters timing, his ability to feint to force you to react and then counter strike you! Rob was his perfect opponent as he came at him with everything and Izzy read his timing like a book and countered him to win! Romero said pre fight every fighter has a flaw and he has seen Izzy’s and would show everyone! Could it not be possible that Romero decided to not give Izzy the looks he “needs” and then he takes away Izzy’s biggest weapons???? It may if not worked for Romero but I feel this has been overlooked by most and the easy comments of “he did nothing” are just being said.

“The cure for insomnia” I’m dead 😂😂😂

At the pub I was like WHERE IS CHAEL!!!!...I NEED CHAEL TO MAKE SENSE OF ALL THIS..... Thanks chael.

Why does anyone else do post fights. This is Chael's calling I think now.

Yoel had a fight later on his backyard so he had to save energy.

I told myself if Izzy beats yoel I would consider him one of the greats but this fight was pure shit...

The belt was there for the taking last night and Romero didn't go get it. Needed to put the pressure on Adesanya. Take the chance. Its your last chance most likely.

Romero was so scared of getting tired it was unbelievable. The fact that he got this fight in the first place is a gift and then expected izzy to come at him was laughable. Romero left hook game plan worked twice izzy made adjustments and started picking him off but Romero kept on waiting for izzy to come at him. He was so salty izzy didn't do what he wanted and izzy developed a new plan in fight after Romero decided he didn't want to fight until he saw he was going to lose by points. I mean compare izzy's last round against gastelum he wanted that win so bad Romero didn't chase down that belt like every champion did, he wanted it at the centre of the octagon like a wwe money in the bank case. So disappointed wasted title opportunity...

And people thought Rian Johnson subverted everyone's expectations...

Such a goofy fight: Romero: He kept running. He didn’t want to trade with me. I couldn’t put my hands on him cause he kept running. Izzy: He didn’t charge me like I wanted. Nothing to counter. So I just stick and move, hoping he’ll chase. But I’m too elusive. Both after the fight: Why was this fight so boring?!

That overhand counter by Romero was a real threat in my opinion.

Yoel: I’m not going to engage, to the highest of levels. Izzy: Ok wait.

The few times Romero attacked with success, he staggered Izzy. Izzy was afraid of that power, he knew he couldn't take much of that.

Izzy summed it up great.. "He was hoping that I would make a mistake. You have to create the opportunity for the knockout shot. But you can't just stand there & hope I run into it. I'm not going to risk millions of dollars just to please drunk fans"

Ngannou thought this was fight of the year

And this is why I subscribed. Nice 1 chael. For veiwers at home.. it was a "different" kind of viewing experience for sure.. but I loved it! #andstill

Romero blew his chance, I don’t understand.. it’s like he got paid off or smg

“This one was the cure for insomnia.” - Uncle Chael

Interviewer: so what happened ? Israel: Idk, we just stood around saying "No u" to each other the whole fight, and then it was over Romero: (from a distance echos) no u ! Israel: dude I won its over already !

After the Jones/Reyes fight and the Romero/Adesanya fight UFC needs to show judges cards after each round. There is no way Adesanya did enough to win rounds 1 and 2

Israel told that 1st punch Romero hit him, he was seeing two Romero's. I think after that he was beeing very careful

Romero just wanted izzy to chase him the whole time so he would mess up and then he could explode all at once and knock him out...romero didn't try to fight and Izzy didn't play his game the way he wanted him to, Izzy is the champ it's simple, Romero should of been trying to take his title

“Retirement, I see you soon boy”- Yoel’s career

I didn’t watch it a second time. So going off the one time I watched it, I seen romero move very rarely. And I seen Izzy bouncing and moving all over the place. What I did notice is that romero wanting time stand and box mostly. And when he did strike, Izzy would run. Idk. Either way. Boring fight for sure

Excellent insight!! Unless you’re a fighter it’s hard to comprehend the impact of exhaustion just looking as a spectator.

Romero is the challenger. He’s there where others want to be challenging for the belt. You can’t squander a chance like that by not doing anything and leaving it up to the score cards or giving it a crack. The champ just has to win, doesn’t matter if it’s boring or not. Romero stuffed up should have chased and not left it to the score cards or what little they could score.

Romero. It's your last chance at a title & you come out with whatever that was. Looked like he thought it was a joke.

"I cant let you get close" Uncle Chael to the skunk at the garden party

Best breakdown of this fight by a loooong shot. Thank you.

if you consider that there was a Title on the table, I think that Yoel should have been more offensive, to me the result was fair.

Someone pointed out on Twitter that he lost not 1, but 2 hours of his life watching this fight due to daylight savings 🤣

Well this is a good discussion: Who has to press the issue? Just because Israel is the "Champion" does that give him different rules to follow? Are there any clear-cut rules in the UFC on this issue?

Neither one is to blame. Like the old saying goes "styles make fights". Some fighters match up really well and some fighters don't. This kinda shit is gonna happen time to time so I can blame either fighter.

Anyones fault aside, that fight really bummed me out.

Yoel was like a wall of bricks that literally said " come crash on me,,"

You guys are forgetting Adesanya called out Romero and said he would put him away properly. He called out a fighter everyone is scared to fight he acted the most afraid in the octagon.

It seems to me that the UFC world its always expecting Romero to KO his opponent and that is not always the case, its impossible.

I know the whole "you have to beat the champ to be the champ" thing has been played out as an excuse but in this fight its kinda true. Yoel hardly attempted to take the belt off of izzy yet expects the fight to somehow be amazing when he won't even engage

Yoel " THE STATUE OF GOD " Romero

This is the best breakdown I've heard out of any critic👍🏾

To be honest, the only thing Adesanya dared to do was kicking Romero's leg and run away. Romero was actually the only one, even if seldom, that tried to engage for real, and then Adesanya ran away fast as he could. I also thought it a bit sad Romero never went for a takedown, especially the time he actually rushed Adesaya and had him shortly against the fence. In my book Romero won. Adesanya just danced with no intention of doing more then touching a leg...

If someone is standing in front of you, not moving and just covering their face, the logical thing is to attack the legs and body with kicks. Especially if you're the taller fighter. Yoel's gameplan was to literally stand there and catch him with a huge overhand right. He caught Izzy with it the first round and that's when Izzy realized that's all Yoel will be doing the entire fight. So Izzy strikes from the outside If you're trying to counter with an overhand right, the way Yoel did it is not the way. You set it up with jabs, leg kicks, feints, movements. Yoel did none of this. Just waiting for the overhand Right or just bum rushing and hoping for the best. Every Striker knows that Izzy would just attack from the outside with a gameplan like Yoels Yoel was trying to make Izzy make a mistake and attack a defense shell and Izzy did the first round and didn't after

The ring should shrink 6' after every round....

Chael " I have a real concerned face in my thumbnail " Sonnen

I fully agree Chael!! Totally. Ty for your educated opinions kind sir.

Yoel is to blame no debate. Izzy was actually leading and atleast was somewhat active. What's he supposed do, run straight into Yoel's punches? Yoel's strategy was to literally stand there and try to bait Izzy into over extending. Also for any idiot that says Izzy was "running" he moved out of the way when Romero bursted forward, and then immediately was back on Romero, once again what do you want him to do, stand there and get KO'd? Or perhaps start exchanging in the pocket with Yoel fucking Romero when that's not izzy's game. Izzy is the champ, Yoel is the challenger, it's on Yoel to TAKE the belt.

Yoel is to blame. He just stood there like a Statue of God hoping that Izzy would bring his chin to him. Which Izzy did in the first round and got clipped. Izzy was like ok i'mma just kick you from the outside and call it a day. As a challenger you have to take the belt and also knowing you had previously lost your last three fights on decision.

Well said and analysis I now understand what went down in the fight

Romero doesn't care about the title. the reason he wasn't engaging was because he said that adesanya challenged him so he was expecting him to engage.

Yoel wanted to fight the fight on his terms. He knew that chasing him would slow himself down

At one point Yoel literally just started jumping.

Several times during the bout, Izzy was on skates. ‘Soldier of God’ was triumphant by my reckoning. Judges obviously saw differently (as with Reyes vs Jones and other lost causes)

Well said and thank you for being honest about everything

Ngannou and Lewis: *rubbing hands happily*

Yoel "I'm gonna do the mannequin challange " romero

This type of analysis is why Chael Sonnen, whom I disliked profusely as a fighter, is the best in the business. I have to show my respect where respect is owed and due. I dare say, in my limited “expertise” as a fan, he’s the best at providing valuable insight and razor-sharp analysis - in a way that is both informative and enjoyable. Well done.

Just utterly love Chael's analysis. THE best MMA channel bar none. Bar none.

Izzy was talking about going yoel the whole lead up. He tasted yoels power twice and decided to play it safe cant blame him

You can’t call someone out then not put the pressure on them in my eyes

Its nice to hear ...legit by experience Cheal nice to hear from ur perspective

Uncle Chael KILLED IT with the analogy of Izzy being a detective in that fight. Made me see it from a whole different perspective.

I think it's very clear who's to blame for this... Tony Ferguson

When Yoel started it off the way he did, he set the mood for the rest of the fight. It also didnt help that the fight before got the crowd crazy

Great information as usual

I scored for Izzy because Romero showed NO agression or control. He didn't initiate exchanges. Izzy did all of that, however he did it. Octagon control isn't standing in the middle being stationary; you have to EXERT control of the Octagon.

Judges have to give it to the person attacking, not just standing there praying to land a big counter punch

Romero: I'm gonna conserve my energy. Also Romero: does 2 backflips as soon as he enters the octagon

The press conference was more fun to watch than the fight

This way much more entertaining than the actual fight.