Two of the greatest middleweights around the planet are set to clash at a long-awaited bout after this spring, and now I’ll give my initial thoughts on the matchup in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa, UFC on ESPN 3
Top-ranked middleweights Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa will battle at the main event of UFC on ESPN 3, that is set for April 27 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The bout was first reported by Combate. It will be a five-round fight, it is probably the winner of this bout could be next in line for a crack at the UFC middleweight title currently held by Robert Whittaker, who fights Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 in early February. (Although we need to maintain Israel Adesanya in that dialog as well).
Romero (13-3) is 41-years old, but you would not know it. He is in amazing physical condition and can be fighting an extremely high level. The Cuban wrestling senstation is 9-2 overall in the UFC, with wins over the likes of Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza, Lyoto Machida, Brad Tavares and Derek Brunson. Seven of his UFC successes have come by knockout, and 11 total of his wins have come by knockout. He has only been stopped once in his whole career, by Rafael”Feijao” Cavalcante back in Strikeforce, and at the UFC he has only lost twice, both razor-thin choices to Whittaker. In a lot of ways it’s reasonable to consider Romero the second-best middleweight in the world behind the Australian champion. But with two reductions to Whittaker, Romero is in the same spot as someone like Stephen”Wonderboy” Thompson in welterweight. Together with different contenders in the mix, Romero needs to keep active and keep winning fights in order to possibly get a third name fight against the Whittaker vs. Gastelum winner.
Costa (12-0) is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC and all of his career victories have come by knockout or entry, such as brutal knockouts over Johny Hendricks and Uriah Hall in his last two bouts. The Brazilian was tagged the next big thing by most fans and press, but so far he’s still quite unproven against the top echelon of the UFC middleweight division. At only 27, he is correct in his prime and proceeds to show an improved skill-set every time we see him inside the Octagon. No doubt he has looked great against lesser opposition, and when he looks great against Romero and gets the win he will be in an enviable position in regards to the middleweight title taken pecking order.
This is a great fight, and also the fact it is place for five rounds makes it even better. As far as who I prefer, I believe you need to tag Romero as the favored only based on what he has accomplished so far from the Octagon. And of course the fact that when this fight was initially reserved for UFC 230, Romero was initially pegged as the betting favorite ahead of the line was taken down. Costa has definitely looked great lately, though, and he’s got a 14-year age advantage in this fight, but till we see him actually beat a top man it’s difficult to say he should be preferred over any of these. Regardless of who wins the struggle, this should be a fun matchup and it is the ideal principal event for the Hispanic crowd in Miami.
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