A couple of the best middleweights on the planet are set to battle in a long-awaited bout later 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 clash in the Primary event of UFC on ESPN 3, that is set for April 27 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The bout was initially reported by Combate. It’ll be a five-round fight, it’s likely the winner of this bout could be next in line to get a crack in the UFC middleweight title currently held by Robert Whittaker, that fights Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 in early February. (Although we need to keep Israel Adesanya in that conversation too ).
Romero (13-3) is 41-years older, but you wouldn’t know it. He is in amazing physical condition and is fighting at an extremely high level. The Cuban wrestling senstation is 9-2 overall from 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 overall of his wins have come by knockout. He has just been stopped once in his entire career, by Rafael”Feijao” Cavalcante back in Strikeforce, also at the UFC he’s only lost two, both razor-thin decisions to Whittaker. In many ways it is reasonable to consider Romero the second-best middleweight in the world behind the Australian champion. However, with just two losses to Whittaker, Romero is in the same spot as somebody like Stephen”Wonderboy” Thompson in welterweight. With different contenders in the mix, Romero needs to keep busy and keep winning fights so as to maybe get a third title fight from the Whittaker vs. Gastelum winner.
Costa (12-0) is a perfect 4-0 at the UFC and all his career victories have come by knockout or entry, including brutal knockouts over Johny Hendricks and Uriah Hall in his last two bouts. The Brazilian was labeled the upcoming big thing by many fans and media, but so far he is still very unproven against the upper echelon of this UFC middleweight division. At just 27, he’s correct in his prime and continues to demonstrate an improved skill-set each time we see him within the Octagon. No doubt he’s looked great against lesser opposition, and if he looks fantastic against Romero and has the win he will be in an enviable position when it comes to the middleweight title shot pecking order.
This is a superb fight, and also the fact it’s set for five rounds makes it better. As far as who I favor, I believe you need to label Romero as the favorite only based on everything he’s accomplished so far in the Octagon. Not to mention that when this struggle was originally reserved for UFC 230, Romero was originally pegged as the betting favorite before the line was taken down. Costa has definitely looked great recently, though, and he has a 14-year age benefit in this fight, but till we see him actually beat a top guy it is difficult to say he should be favored over any of these. Irrespective of who wins the fight, this ought to be a fun matchup and it’s the ideal main event for the Hispanic audience in Miami.
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