{"id":129197,"date":"2020-03-07T01:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=129197"},"modified":"2020-03-06T18:17:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-07T02:17:19","slug":"ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Adesanya, Zhang Weili Favored to Defend Titles at UFC 248 in Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Zhang Weili are both favored to successfully hold on to their titles on Saturday night. But they\u2019ll face dangerous opponents at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in their UFC 248 bouts.<\/p>\n

\"UFC
Zhang Weili (left) defends her women\u2019s strawweight title against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 on Saturday. (Image: Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa\/Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DraftKings Sportsbook lists Adesanya as a -278 favorite over Yoel Romero in their middleweight title fight<\/a> (+225), while Zhang (-177) deals with an even tougher challenge from Joanna Jedrzejczyk (+145).<\/p>\n

Undefeated Adesanya Unafraid of Yoel Romero<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Israel Adesanya agreed to take on No. 3 contender Yoel Romero, many questioned whether the decision was a smart one. While Romero has lost three of his last four fights, he remains one of the most dangerous middleweight fighters in the world.<\/p>\n

Other top contenders in the division have gone out of their way to avoid fighting the 42-year-old. It\u2019s easy to see why: Romero maintains elite knockout power and has one of the strongest chins in all of MMA.<\/p>\n

Still, Adesanya says there\u2019s nothing to fear from the Cuban-born Olympic wrestler.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t been overly impressed,\u201d Adesanya said of Romero to MMA Fighting. \u201cI\u2019ve seen him get hurt. I\u2019ve seen him get tagged a lot\u2026everyone\u2019s acting like he\u2019s this super human. But I\u2019ve been impressed by his explosiveness and the way he\u2019s kept up his shape at his age. I\u2019ve been impressed by that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Romero made weight on Friday morning, though he was the last fighter on the UFC 248 card to do so. He failed in two previous attempts to make weight for championship fights, but came in at 184.5 pounds with about 20 minutes to go in the weigh-in period.<\/p>\n

If Romero has one clear edge over Adesanya, it\u2019s likely in wrestling, which remains a strength for him to this day. But Romero says he may keep the fight on its feet, if only to avoid leaving the result to chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might be staying away from wrestling because I like my striking,\u201d Romero told CBS Sports. \u201cIf I see an opportunity, I may go for wrestling. But I\u2019m going to use my striking as I see fit. I don\u2019t want to go to a decision. I don\u2019t want to leave it in the hands of the judges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang Wants UFC 248 Win for China <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Zhang Weili will make the first defense of her women\u2019s strawweight title at UFC 248 against former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Zhang won her title in under a minute last August when she defeated Jessica Andrade. Now, she says she has added motivation to get another win on Saturday.<\/p>\n

I might not have pushed myself or prepared as hard if not for the coronavirus,\u201d<\/strong> Zhang told Yahoo Sports. \u201cChina is going through a very tough time now, but everybody is doing their job. I did my job to make this happen and I believe winning will be great motivation for my country. I\u2019m doing this for my people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Zhang has dealt with jokes about the coronavirus<\/a> throughout her training. Fans of Jedrzejczyk even chanted \u201ccoronavirus\u201d at her during Wednesday\u2019s open workout. Zhang gave those fans the middle finger, something Jedrzejczyk took exception to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you have done yesterday to my fans, you never do that,\u201d Jedrzejczyk told Zhang during their media day faceoff. \u201cWhy did you do that? I will outclass you on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Zhang Weili are both favored to successfully hold on to their titles on Saturday night. But they\u2019ll face dangerous opponents at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in their UFC 248 bouts. DraftKings Sportsbook lists Adesanya as a -278 favorite over Yoel Romero in their middleweight title fight (+225), while Zhang […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":129198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUFC 248: Israel Adesanya, Zhang Weili Favored to Defend Titles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC 248 is highlighted by two title fights, as Israel Adesanya faces Yoel Romero and Zhang Weili faces off against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Vegas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFC 248: Israel Adesanya, Zhang Weili Favored to Defend Titles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC 248 is highlighted by two title fights, as Israel Adesanya faces Yoel Romero and Zhang Weili faces off against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Vegas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-07T09:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-07T02:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/UFC-248-Zhang-Adesanya.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/\",\"name\":\"UFC 248: Israel Adesanya, Zhang Weili Favored to Defend Titles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/UFC-248-Zhang-Adesanya.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-07T09:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-07T02:17:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"UFC 248 is highlighted by two title fights, as Israel Adesanya faces Yoel Romero and Zhang Weili faces off against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Vegas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ufc-248-israel-adesanya-zhang-weili-favored-to-defend-titles\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/UFC-248-Zhang-Adesanya.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/UFC-248-Zhang-Adesanya.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Zhang Weili (left) defends her women\u2019s strawweight title against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 on Saturday. 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