The UFC has booked a potential middleweight title eliminator for an approaching spring down card south, and I will give my thoughts on this exciting new fight in the present MMA odds and ends.
Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo »Jacare » Souza 2, UFC on ESPN 3
All of us believed the main event of UFC on ESPN 3 was going to be a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. However, there’s been a change of plans. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa was scraped in the card and 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 two is defined as the new 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 fight and Souza a KO win over Chris Weidman, however looking at the state of the middleweight division more closely the struggle is logical. 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 division continues to move along and await no one. Both fighters needed a matchup to stay busy in one of the sport’s most active branches, and with 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 at UFC 194 in December 2015 (the exact same night Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo), with Romero edging out a narrow split decision. Ever since then, Romero has gone 2-2 using a pair of conclusion losses in the Octagon to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins within Luke Rockhold and the aforementioned Weidman. Souza, meanwhile, has gone 4-2 since with endings over 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 remain at the peak of the middleweight division, and the winner of the bout should be near a title shot.
Romero (13-3) is 9-2 overall from the UFC and has emerged as one of the most devastating knockout artists in the game today, and of course among their 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 have not fought for a UFC title.
As for the chances for this rematch, I’m anticipating something near a Select ’em with a slight lean towards Romero because he was training with this particular card and because he won the first fight. Nevertheless, the very first fight was just three rounds, and these additional two rounds could turn out to be the gap in the rematch this time around. Regardless of who gets their hand raised it’s likely to be a fantastic fight, though.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links and MMA Odds Breaker will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on the links.
Read more here: http://vacation2cherish.com/2019/10/20/world-cup-nines-australia-win-tournament-as-england-fall-in-semi-finals/
