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| Romero suffered his premier UFC defeat in his meeting with Whittaker. |
Current UFC Middleweight champion Robert 'The Reaper' Whittaker has been forced from his premier title defense at UFC 221 against former kingpin Luke Rockhold, after he was ruled "medically unable to compete". Subsequently, Cuban Freestyle Wrestling Olympian Yoel Romero will now face Rockhold in an Interim Middleweight title clash. Romero was initially booked to face WSOF star David Branch at UFC Fight Night Orlando, but this clash has now been cancelled. Whittaker was promoted to the undisputed champion after Canada's Georges St-Pierre vacated his crown due to a bout of colitis, while Rockhold finished the aforementioned Branch in his octagon return. Romero on the other hand last faced Whittaker in the initial Interim meeting, losing a decision to the Aussie favorite.
The precise and volume striker Whittaker made a huge argument that he should in fact, have been awarded the Fighter of The Year accolade ahead of Featherweight crown holder Max Holloway, as the Auckland born star finished the formidable Jacaré Souza, avoiding the immaculate grappling of the Brazilian before recovering from multiple first round takedowns from Romero, to pick up a decision victory, despite blowing out his knee early in the five round meeting. The 27 year-old now misses the biggest pay check of his career to date after the scrapping of his meeting with Rockhold but will defend against either the American or 'The Soldier Of God' upon his return.
In a late notice title defense against bitter rival Michael 'The Count' Bisping, Rockhold was incredibly stopped in the opening round after eating a left hook from the brash Mancunian. Many expected the retiring Bisping to headline March's UFC Fight Night London in a rubber match with Luke, but Rockhold was quickly booked for a title match with Whittaker. Surviving an early onslaught from multiple weight champion David Branch, Rockhold managed to establish full mount and force the former WSOF kingpin to tap to strikes in his UFC return.
One of the most feared, imposing and athletically gifted mixed-martial artists to step foot into the octagon, the 40-year old Yoel Romero has used his lifetime Olympic level wrestling to completely dismantle Chris Weidman, Lyoto Machida, Brad Tavares and Derek Brunson to name a few. Scoring a terrifying flying knee finish back st UFC 205 over the talented Weidman, Romero was in many's opinion, the best Middleweight on planet earth. Romero really cemented his potential as champion material during his starching of former Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida at UFC Fight Night Hollywood. After securing an expert knee tap, Romero postured up and quickly stopped Machida with brutal elbows.
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