The UFC has booked a potential middleweight title eliminator for an upcoming spring down card south, and I will give my thoughts on this thrilling new battle in the present MMA odds and ends.
Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza two, UFC on ESPN 3
All of us thought the main event of UFC on ESPN 3 was likely to become a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. There’s been a change of plans. Based on ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa was scratched from the card and now Romero will rematch rival Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza at a rematch. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 in BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and Romero vs. Souza 2 is defined as the new five-round principal event.
It was possibly slightly surprising to observe the UFC publication this rematch at this point of time, with Romero coming off of a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his final struggle 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 fighting 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 wait for no one. Both fighters had a matchup to keep busy in one of the game’s most active branches, and with no other top-ranked contenders accessible 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 in December 2015 (the exact same night Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo), together with Romero edging out a narrow split decision. Ever since that time, Romero has gone 2-2 using a pair of decision declines in the Octagon to Whittaker. Souza, meanwhile, has gone 4-2 since then 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 stay at the top of the middleweight division, and also the winner of this bout ought to 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 from the sport today, and of course one of 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 among the best MMA fighters ever to have not fought for a UFC name.
In terms of the odds with this rematch, I’m expecting something near a Pick ’em with a slight lean towards Romero because he was training for this card and because he won the first fight. Nevertheless, the first fight was just three rounds, and these extra two rounds could turn out to be the difference in the rematch this time around. Irrespective of who receives their hand raised, it is likely to be a fight that is fantastic, however.
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