Yoel Romero out of fight; UFC working on new opponent for ‘Jacare’ Souza
The UFC is heading to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 27 and the card was set to be headlined with a middleweight rematch between Yoel Romero vs ‘Jacare’ Souza. However, at first it was reported that it was going to be Romero vs Paulo Costa, but Costa was removed from the card.
Following the removal of Costa, Romero said it was due to him being flagged by USADA, which is not true.
Now, according to a report from AgFight, Romero is out of the main event spot due to an illness. The Cuban has spoken on how excited he was to fight in Southern Florida given the fact many Cubans live there. Now, the UFC will have to find a new main event.
Well, according to Combate, the UFC has found that replacement. And, it will be the man who was originally set to fight Romero on this card in Paulo Costa.
Costa last fought at UFC 226 where knocked out Uriah Hall to improve to 11-0 as a pro. He also holds a notable win over Johnny Hendricks, and will no doubt have his toughest fight to date when he takes on Jacare.
Souza, meanwhile, last fought at UFC 230 where he knocked out Chris Weidman, in what was the fight of the night. Although it is not the rematch Souza wanted, it is still a tough fight against a knockout artist in Costa. The winner could very well be one win away from a title shot, or possibly get the next shot after Robert Whittaker defends his belt against the winner of the interim title fight set for April 13 at UFC 236.
For now, the UFC has yet to confirm anything, but all signs point to the new main event being Ronald ‘Jacare’ Souza taking on Paulo Costa with Yoel Romero off the card due to an illness.
UPDATE: According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Paulo Costa is not in the running as of right now to fight Souza. The UFC is looking for other replacements for the time being.
