Hold your horses on Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa.
You would think that the UFC officially announcing Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa for UFC 230 is a sign that this fight is a done deal, right? It’s tweeted out for the world to see!
NY, ARE YOU READY??
No. 1 contender @YoelRomeroMMA faces the undefeated @BorrachinhaMMA at @TheGarden Nov 3. #UFC230 pic.twitter.com/7Ti6SNyold
— UFC (@ufc) July 24, 2018
Not so fast.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani has the scoop on why this middleweight clash is not yet actually signed, sealed, and delivered.
According to multiple sources close to Romero, though, he hasn’t agreed to that fight or any fight at this time. Romero had surgery on his broken orbital bone less than a month ago and, according to sources, he isn’t in a rush to accept his next fight until he fully heals.
[…]
Sources say Costa verbally agreed to the fight recently, but neither Romero nor his team have said yes to it, let alone signed a bout agreement.
UFC 230 is set for November 3rd at Madison Square Garden in New York City. So far, the theme of the card suggests that it’ll be heavily focused on the middleweights, as Luke Rockhold will rematch Chris Weidman in a battle of former UFC champions, while former Strikeforce champ Ronaldo Souza takes on ex-WSOF king David Branch.
Romero and Costa has high potential to be tremendously exciting, but evidently the UFC’s own announcement was premature.