When Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221, he earned himself a rematch with reigning middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. While some fans felt Romero didn’t deserve this opportunity on the basis of his weigh-in flub, UFC President Dana White confirmed the plan was indeed a Whittaker-Romero rematch.
While we have known this rematch is the plan for a few weeks, the date and venue of the rematch have remained nebulous. Whittaker is hoping he can fix that.
Early on Sunday morning, Whittaker took to Twitter to offer Romero a potential date for their anticipated rematch. The champ is hoping it’ll go down at UFC 225, this June 9 in Chicago, Illinois.
Hey @YoelRomeroMMA I’m ready to go in Chicago June Rematch ? pic.twitter.com/2q55uKL79K
— Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) February 25, 2018
“Hey [Yoel Romero] I’m ready to go in Chicago,” Whittaker said in his Tweet. “June Rematch?”
Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero first fought in July of 2017, in the main event of UFC 213. On that fateful night, Whittaker defeated Romero by unanimous decision, capturing the UFC interim middleweight title as a result.
In the subsequent months, undisputed middleweight champion Michael Bisping surrendered his title to the returning Georges St-Pierre, who then vacated the belt. With this development, Whittaker was promoted to undisputed champion.
Regrettably, Whittaker was then sidelined with health problems and forced out of a planned title defense opposite Rockhold. He was then replaced by Romero, who was expected to fight Rockhold for the interim title, but lost that opportunity when he missed weight.
Needless to say, it’s been a bizarre and confusing ride for the middleweight title, but it sounds like it could all come full circle this June.
Does a UFC 225 rematch between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero work for you? Join the debate in the comments section!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/25/2018.