It’s official. Robert Whittaker will be making his first title defense June 9 against Yoel Romero at UFC 225.
This won’t be the first time the two have met, either. Romero and Whittaker squared off at UFC 213 last July for the Interim Middleweight Championship. Whittaker won the match via unanimous decision, making him the first and only person to defeat Romero in the UFC.
Whittaker was later promoted to UFC Middleweight Champion after former Champion Georges St-Pierre vacated his title.
Robert was supposed to make his debut title defense against Yoel at UFC 221 last month in Perth, Australia, but he had to pull out of the bout due to a staph infection. Romero faced former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold instead, defeating him via third-round knockout. Yoel would have been the Interim UFC Middleweight Champion, but he weighed in heavy and was therefore ineligible.
UFC 225 will be going off at the United Center in Chicago. So far, the other fights on the card are as follows:
Claudia Gadelha versus Carla Esparza
Joseph Benavidez versus Sergio Pettis
Alistair Overeem versus Curtis Blaydes
Rashad Evans versus Anthony Smith
The rematch is OFFICIAL!Robert Whittaker MMA makes the first defense of his MW strap against former foe Yoel Romero UFC at #UFC225 in the Chi!
Posted by UFC on Wednesday, March 14, 2018
