This Saturday,
Cuban Yoel Romero (13-1, 11 KOs) will fight against New Zealand’s Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker (18-4, 9 KOs) at UFC 213 in Paradise, Nevada, for the interim middleweight title.
Since October 2016 the UFC’s middleweight division has been in ‘stand by.’ That was when division champion Michael Bisping defeated Dan Henderson, but injured his knee in the process.
During that time, many fighters have grown exponentially, but there is a fighter who has really blossomed and is fighting for a chance to win a belt for the first time in his career: Yoel Romero.
Romero’s power is well liked by UFC’s fans as he has proven to be equally effective using his hands and legs. He wants to make history for Cuba and become the first champion from that Caribbean island in the history of the UFC.
At 40 years old, the Cuban is not a young promise, but he certainly is a destroyer that crushes his octagon opponents. In UFC fights he has an 8-0 record with six knockouts.
A few UFC stars, such as Chris Weidman, Lyoto Machida and Derek Brunson, have already faced him and failed to survive his power.
He defeated Weidman in November and earned not only the top rank in the division, but also the chance to fight for the interim title against Whittaker.
Whittaker reaches this bout with a seven-fight winning streak. In his last two combats the New Zealander defeated Derek Brunson and Ronaldo Souza, who coincidentally were two of Romero’s last three opponents.
Whittaker is not as powerful as Romero, but he has four TKOs in his last seven fights and has won 53 percent of his fights by knockout.
“The Reaper” is a strong puncher, but his forte is his ability to use his legs and knees. As a result, expect this bout to come down to the power punches and kicks. The man who ends up being more effective with his hands and legs will win this fight as they can both take out opposing fighters with one blow.
The winner will win the interim title and earn a chance to fight Bisping.
