An enticing battle between two of the best and most bruising middleweights in the UFC has been rescheduled for April 18, and is set to air for free on Fox.
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Yoel Romero are now set to face off in the co-main event of UFC on Fox 15, according to a report from Thomas Gerbasi published Wednesday on UFC.com.
#UFCNewJersey co-main event announced @JacareMMA vs @YoelRomeroMMA Story: http://t.co/VRVnX1SDO7 pic.twitter.com/tq8LE2zaQN
— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 12, 2015
The bout was originally set to take place Feb. 28 at UFC 184. However, Souza pulled out of the fight, citing pneumonia.
Fans are surely glad that the matchup survived the withdrawal. Souza and Romero may be the two most exciting middleweights on the planet at the moment, and the winner would be well positioned for a shot at the UFC middleweight title.
Both men have experienced major resurgences late in their athletic careers.
Romero, 37, has competed twice at the Olympic level as a freestyle wrestler, winning silver in 2000 and placing fourth in 2004. He made his professional MMA debut in 2009, and has gone 9-1 since. The chiseled Cuban has major knockout power to complement his formidable wrestling.
Souza, 35, has plenty of international success of his own: The Brazilian is a multi-time jiu-jitsu world champion. But at 21-3-1, he has substantially more MMA experience than Romero. Jacare was the middleweight champ in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion.
Since joining the UFC, Souza has displayed a newly sharpened kickboxing game that has served as a strong addition to his game. In his 4-0 UFC run, he has a win by TKO, which came over Yushin Okami.
It will be interesting to see how this fight unfolds, with Souza holding an edge in submission grappling and striking and Romero possessing a clear advantage in wrestling and punching power.
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