YOEL ROMERO VS. RONALDO “JACARE” SOUZA 2 HEADLINES UFC ON ESPN 3
The UFC has reserved a possible middleweight title eliminator for an upcoming spring down card south, and I’ll give my thoughts on this exciting new fight 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 going to be 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 at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and Romero vs. Souza 2 is set as the new five-round main event.
It was perhaps slightly surprising to see that the UFC book this rematch at the point of time, with Romero coming off of a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his last struggle and Souza that a KO win over Chris Weidman, but looking at the state of the middleweight division more closely the struggle makes sense. With Kelvin Gastelum combating Israel Adesanya in UFC 236 for the interim middleweight title, and the champ Whittaker sitting on the sidelines with injuries, the branch continues to move along and await no one. Both fighters needed a matchup to keep busy in one of the game’s most active branches, and 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 first time Romero and Souza fought was back in UFC 194 at December 2015 (the exact 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 at the Octagon to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins within the above 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 remain at the peak of the middleweight division, and also the winner of the bout should be close to 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 game now, not to mention 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 branch, not to mention among the best MMA fighters to have not fought for a UFC name.
In terms of the odds for this rematch, I am expecting something near a Pick ‘em with a slight lean towards Romero because he was training with this card and since he won the first battle. But the fight was only 3 rounds, and these two rounds could prove to be the gap in the rematch this time around. It is going to be a fantastic fight regardless of who receives their hands raised.
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