The UFC has booked a potential middleweight title eliminator for an approaching spring card down south, and I’ll offer my thoughts on this thrilling new fight in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza 2, UFC on ESPN 3
We all thought the main event of UFC on ESPN 3 was going to become a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. There’s been a change of plans. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa has been scraped in 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 two is set as the new five-round principal event.
It was possibly slightly surprising to see the UFC publication this rematch at this time period, with Romero coming off of a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his last fight 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 wait for no one. Both fighters needed a matchup to keep busy in one of 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 best way to go for the UFC.
The first time Romero and Souza fought was back in 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 with a set of decision declines at the Octagon to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins over Luke Rockhold and the above Weidman. 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 remain at the top of the middleweight division, and the winner of the 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 from the sport today, and of course one of their most accomplished wrestlers. Souza (26-6, 1 NC) is 8-3 at the UFC and is one of the most well-rounded fighters at the branch, and of course among the best MMA fighters ever to haven’t fought for a UFC name.
As for the odds with this rematch, I’m expecting something near a Pick ’em with a slight lean towards Romero just because he was training with this particular card and since he won the first fight. But the first fight was only three rounds, and these extra two rounds could prove to be the difference in the rematch this time around. Irrespective of who receives their hand raised, it’s going to be a fight that is fantastic, however.
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