YOEL ROMERO VS. RONALDO “JACARE” SOUZA 2 HEADLINES UFC ON ESPN 3

The UFC has reserved a possible middleweight title eliminator for an approaching spring down card south, and I will 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
All of us believed the most important event of UFC on ESPN 3 was likely to be a five-round middleweight fight between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. However, there’s been a change of plans. Based on ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa has been scratched from the card and now Romero will rematch rival Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza in a rematch. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 in BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and Romero vs. Souza two is defined as the newest five-round principal event.
It was perhaps slightly surprising to see that the UFC book this rematch at this point of time, together with Romero coming from a split decision loss to Robert Whittaker in his final struggle and Souza that a KO win over Chris Weidman, however looking at the state of the middleweight division more closely the fight is logical. 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 had a matchup to keep busy in among the game’s most active divisions, and with no other top-ranked contenders accessible to fight in April, this rematch between Romero and Souza was the way to go for the UFC.
The very 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 that time, Romero has gone 2-2 in the Octagon with a pair of conclusion declines to Whittaker bookmarked by KO wins within Luke Rockhold and the above Weidman. Souza, meanwhile, has gone 4-2 since with endings within Weidman, Derek Brunson, Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch and reductions to Whittaker and Gastelum. Despite both Romero and Souza being 41 and 39, respectively, they stay at the peak of the middleweight division, and also the winner of this bout should be near a title shot.
Romero (13-3) is 9-2 overall from the UFC and has emerged as one of the most devastating knockout artists in the sport now, not to mention one of the most accomplished wrestlers. Souza (26-6, 1 NC) is 8-3 in the UFC and is among the most well-rounded fighters in the division, and of course one of the best MMA fighters ever to haven’t fought for a UFC title.
In terms of the chances with this rematch, I’m expecting something near a Select Celtics using a slight lean towards Romero just because he was training for this particular card and because he won the first fight. But the first fight was just 3 rounds, and these extra two rounds could prove to be the difference in the rematch this time around. Regardless of who gets their hand raised, it’s going to be a fantastic fight, however.
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