The UFC has reserved a potential middleweight title eliminator for an approaching spring card down south, and I will give my thoughts on this exciting new battle in the present 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 going to be a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. But, there’s been a change of plans. Based on ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa has been scraped in the card and now Romero will rematch rival Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza in a rematch. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 in BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and Romero vs. Souza 2 is set as the newest five-round principal event.
It was perhaps slightly surprising to see that the UFC publication this rematch at this time period, together with Romero coming from a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his final struggle and Souza a KO win over Chris Weidman, but looking at the state of the middleweight division more closely the fight makes sense. With Kelvin Gastelum combating Israel Adesanya in UFC 236 for the interim middleweight title, along with the champ Whittaker sitting on the sidelines with injuries, the division continues to move along and await no one. Both fighters needed a matchup to stay busy in among the sport’s most active branches, and with no other top-ranked contenders available to fight in April, this rematch between Romero and Souza was the way to go to the UFC.
The very first time Romero and Souza fought was back in UFC 194 in December 2015 (the same night Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo), together with Romero edging out a narrow split decision. Ever since then, Romero has gone 2-2 with a set of decision declines at the Octagon to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins within Luke Rockhold and the aforementioned Weidman. Souza, meanwhile, has gone 4-2 since with endings within Weidman, Derek Brunson, Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch and reductions to Whittaker and Gastelum. Despite both Romero and Souza being 41 and 39, respectively, they remain on top of the middleweight division, and also the winner of this bout should be near a title shot.
Romero (13-3) is 9-2 overall in the UFC and has emerged as one of the most devastating knockout artists in the sport today, not to mention one of their most accomplished wrestlers. Souza (26-6, 1 NC) is 8-3 at the UFC and is among the most well-rounded fighters in the division, not to mention among the best MMA fighters to haven’t fought for a UFC title.
In terms of the chances for this rematch, I’m expecting something near a Pick ’em with a slight lean towards Romero because he was training for this particular card and because he won the first battle. Nevertheless, the first fight was just three rounds, and these extra two rounds could prove to be the gap in the rematch now around. It is likely to be a great fight, however, regardless of who receives their hand raised.
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