The UFC has booked a possible middleweight title eliminator for an upcoming spring card down south, and I will offer my thoughts on this thrilling new battle in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza two, UFC on ESPN 3
We all believed the most important event of UFC on ESPN 3 was likely to be a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. However, there’s been a change of plans. Based on ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa was scratched in the card and Romero will rematch rival Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza in a rematch. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and Romero vs. Souza 2 is set as the newest five-round main event.
It was possibly slightly surprising to observe the UFC publication this rematch at this point of time, together with Romero coming from a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his final fight and Souza a KO win over Chris Weidman, but looking at the condition of the middleweight division more closely the struggle makes sense. With Kelvin Gastelum combating Israel Adesanya at UFC 236 for its interim middleweight title, along with the champ Whittaker sitting on the sidelines with injuries, the branch continues to move along and wait for no one. Both fighters had a matchup to stay busy in one of the game’s most active branches, and no additional top-ranked contenders available to fight in April, this rematch between Romero and Souza was the best way to go for the UFC.
The very first time Romero and Souza fought was back in UFC 194 at December 2015 (the same night Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo), with Romero edging out a narrow split decision. Since then, Romero has gone 2-2 at the Octagon using a set of conclusion declines to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins within the aforementioned Weidman and Luke Rockhold. Souza, meanwhile, has gone 4-2 since then with finishes within Weidman, Derek Brunson, Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch and losses to Whittaker and Gastelum. Despite both Romero and Souza being 41 and 39, respectively, they stay at the top of the middleweight division, and the winner of the bout ought to be close to a title shot.
Romero (13-3) is 9-2 overall from the UFC and has emerged as one of the most devastating knockout artists from the sport today, and of course one of the most accomplished wrestlers. Souza (26-6, 1 NC) is 8-3 in the UFC and is one of the most well-rounded fighters at the division, and of course one of the best MMA fighters ever to haven’t fought for a UFC title.
In terms of the chances with this rematch, I am anticipating something near a Pick Celtics using a slight lean towards Romero just because he was already training for this particular card and because he won the first fight. But the very first fight was only 3 rounds, and these two rounds could turn out to be the difference in the rematch this time around. Irrespective of who gets their hand raised, it’s likely to be a fight, however.
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