Yoel Romero Reveals Date For Title Fight Against Robert Whittaker
There was speculation that this fight would go down at the UFC 225 PPV event and it is looking like that will happen.
UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker recently challenged #1 contender Yoel Romero for a title fight at the upcoming pay-per-view event via Twitter.
During a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting), Romero claimed that he would be challenging Whittaker for the middleweight title at this event.
The UFC 225 pay-per-view event is scheduled to go down on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
“Let’s just wait until June 9th,” Romero said when asked how a rematch with Whittaker would look. “After the [Whittaker] fight, my manager said that when he saw me I had a big smile on my face,” said Romero. “I was very happy. I didn’t take that loss as serious as I should have. [I was happy because] I learned. And now you see what happened with Luke Rockhold. I learned about timing.
“Listen, people talk about my ‘gas’ but it wasn’t easy to fight Luke Rockhold. I went to Albuquerque with Jon Jones and I learned something. They controlled my attacks, so I learned when to attack. If you go, go, go, you will get tired. So I had to learn to pace myself. I don’t have a problem with five rounds now.”
Curtis Blaydes vs. Alistair Overeem, Rashad Evans vs. Anthony Smith, Rashad Coulter vs. Allen Crowder, Claudia Gadelha taking on Carla Esparza, and Joseph Benavidez meeting Sergio Pettis have already been confirmed for the upcoming event.
Whittaker won the interim title when he beat Romero back at UFC 213 in July. Then the promotion made him the champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the strap due to a medical condition in December after beating Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to win it.
As a result of Whittaker dealing with a staph infection in his stomach and did not receive proper treatment, he was forced to withdraw from his first title defense against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.
This led to the promotion booking an interim title bout between top contenders Rockhold and Romero.
With Romero picking up the win over Rockhold, he is the clear #1 contender for the title.
