Dana White Teases Huge Fight For Yoel Romero At 205 Pounds
Dana White has a plan for Yoel Romero at 205 pounds.
The UFC was set ablaze yesterday by the maddening fact another main event fighter had missed eight when “Soldier of God” was declared ineligible to win the title versus Robert Whittaker in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., June 9, 2018) UFC 225 from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
It was only by 0.2 pounds, yet it was Romero’s second straight weight miss in a UFC title fight. Matters became even further complicated when Romero claimed he was forced to stop cutting weight one hour into the two hours the commission had given him yesterday, and indeed he did appear to be in rough shape after missing by the slim margin.
Even though it was close and he probably would have made weight if he was allowed to finish the two-hour period, it’s becoming apparent that the 41-year-old former Olympic wrestler is finding it exceedingly difficult to make 185 pounds, so a move up to the barren wasteland that is the UFC light heavyweight division seems like a logical move for the Cuban beast. In a media scrum with reporters (via MMAjunkie) yesterday, White said he agrees with the move up, and if Romero wins tonight, he should go up to light heavy and compete in a huge match-up right out of the gate:
“If he wins, I think he should move up to 205 pounds and fight the No. 1 contender to see who fights for the title.”
As for just who that fight would be against, White said he was on board with the idea of Romero meeting former two-time title challenger Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson.
Gustafsson has been out of action since an impressive fifth-round knockout over Glover Teixeira in May 2017 that was one of the best fights of last year. He had been linked to a bout with former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, who is also rumored to be moving up to 205 pounds, but that fight fell apart when Rockhold sustained a gruesome leg injury.
If Gustafsson vs. Romero does happen, it may happen under the old afternoon weigh-in schedule, something Whit claimed the promotion would be going back to this week:
“As soon as possible. I got people working on it. It’s gonna be a lot of bullshit, but I got people working on it.
