BREAKING: Israel Adesanya Beats Yoel Romero, Retains Middleweight Title (Photos+Video)

Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya retained his middleweight title in a frustrating, bizarre unanimous decision over Yoel Romero to close out a wild UFC 248 card in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The judges scored the fight 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 – all for Adesanya.

The two men stood at a distance dancing around the Octagon with a punch not thrown for close to three minutes in the opening round.

Romero didn’t look like he wanted to do anything apart from standstill but unloaded the biggest shot of the round with an overhand left.

The unusual tactic continued to play out throughout the fight but the longer the bout went on, Adesanya took control and used the distance to land nasty kick after kick.

The 42-year-old Cuban’s leg began to get increasingly redder as the kicks kept landing from the champ.

But as the fight dragged on, the crowd grew increasingly frustrated and reigned down a chorus of boos onto the fighters before many were sighted heading out the door before the fight had even finished.

Despite his peculiar tactics of doing next to nothing, Romero after the fight said fans had paid to see a fight and not watch someone run in a shot at Adesanya.

“People bought the pay-per-view to see a real fight – not this,” Romero said. “You need to have respect for people. People paid for a pay-per-view, for what? For a fight.”

The numbers from the fight made for bleak reading with Romero throwing just 89 strikes.