The UFC 225 main event was pretty fucking crazy.
After five rounds of war, in what resembled the Nada-Frank street fight from “They Live,” Robert Whittaker topped Yoel Romero by way of split decision at the UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) last Saturday night (June 9, 2018) inside United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Their middleweight bloodbath was close enough to score either way, which means Romero was not robbed, any more than he was robbed when he fell to “The Reaper” at UFC 213 last July. He clearly did more damage, but fought in short bursts — though you can argue “Soldier of God” may have been entitled to at least one 10-8 round.
In the end, the judges disagreed and Romero left “The Windy City” down 0-2 to the Aussie. Arguments in favor of a third go-round include the entertainment factor, as the UFC 225 main event — later awarded “Fight of the Night” — may have been one of the best middleweight contests in recent memory. And as we already mentioned, the first two fights were fairly close.
Plus, who else is in contention? Check out the middleweight top five below:
1. Yoel Romero
2. Luke Rockhold
3. Chris Weidman
4. Kelvin Gastelum
5. Jacare Souza
Gastelum seems like a solid choice, considering he just beat No. 5-ranked Souza.
“He’s got some personal issues that he seriously needs to take care of,” promotion president Dana White said about Gastelum, who was supposed to be the back-up plan for the UFC 225 main event (after this). “It’s some shit he needs to get together and handle. Quick.”
Weidman, meanwhile, is still dealing with a bum hand and Rockhold just got knocked out by Romero back in February, so clearly there is not a long list of more-deserving names.
Working against the power-punching Cuban is the fact that he failed to make weight, converting last night’s five-round war into a 25-minute non-title fight. In the end it didn’t really matter because Whittaker won, but this was the second straight fight in which Romero came in heavy. Giving him yet another shot at middleweight gold is rewarding a fighter who can’t follow the rules.
No question Romero is fun to watch and dangerous inside the cage, but professionalism continues to elude him. Aside from consecutive weigh-in debacles, Romero is also the man behind Stool Gate and that suspension from United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) back in 2016. We can’t start making exceptions for fighters just because we like them and they hit hard.
That’s why White thinks it’s a “good idea” for Romero, 41, to move up to light heavyweight.
Considering fans are already clamoring for a Daniel Cormier title fight, a trip north doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, though “Soldier of God” would need to win at least once at 205 pounds before he became eligible for a title shot.
How about the winner of this fight?
For much more on UFC 225, including live results, play-by-play updates, video highlights, reactions, breaking news and so much more, head over to our comprehensive UFC 225 real-time story archive by clicking here.