UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is preparing for his upcoming title defense against Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 248 on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the build-up to the fight, however, Adesanya found himself in some hot water over comments made about his plans for defeating the challenger.
When discussing his plans, Adesanya made insensitive remarks about 9/11, the devastating terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 where two planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
“He’s human like anyone else, and everyone likes to make this myth about, ‘Oh, he’s steel, like kicking steel,’ or you hit him and he doesn’t fall. I’ll touch him enough times. I’ll touch him enough times and eventually he’ll crumble like the Twin Towers,” Adesanya said.
Of course, there was almost immediate backlash for the comments and the middleweight champion has since apologized.
“I never made a joke about people dying or made light of the tragic event that was 9/11,” Adesanya said in a post on his Instagram story. “I was simply rambling and my brain worked faster than my mouth in a moment to (choose) the wrong euphemism. You speak on the mic enough times and you’re bound to miss the mark with some bars. I did on this one and for that I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in (the) future with my words.”
Adesanya will be able to fully redeem himself when he enters the cage against Romero on Saturday, March 7 for what will be his first official defense of the unified 185-pound crown.
The UFC 248 main card will officially kickoff at 10:00 p.m. ET. In the co-main event of the night, Zhang Weili will make her first defense of the women’s strawweight title against former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
