Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
An intriguing and unexpected Middleweight showdown seems to be on the horizon, as Yoel Romero is in talks to face Uriah Hall at an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in August. That’s according to Ariel Helwani, who brought word of the potential matchup earlier today (Tues., June 16, 2020).
Yoel Romero vs. Uriah Hall is in the works for August, sources say. Not signed and no specific date yet but August is the plan and both fighters have verbally agreed. Middleweight fight.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 16, 2020
Romero (No. 4) is coming off a less-than stellar performance against Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 this past March, which saw “The Last Stylebender” retain his 185-pound title and “Soldier of God” receive a ton of criticism for his lack of offensive output. The loss was Romero’s third in a row, a far cry from the man once deemed indestructible and one of the the most feared fighters on the UFC roster.
Hall (No. 10) has not seen action since defeating Antonio Carlos Junior at UFC Fight Night 158 last November. “Primetime” was set to face Ronaldo Souza at UFC 249 last month, but after “Jacare” tested positive for COVID-19 a few days before the event, the bout was ultimately scratched.
It’s safe to say that a win over Romero will boost Hall’s stock a bit higher than one over Souza would have.
The promotion has several events planned for the month of August, including a Fight Night event on Aug. 1 featuring Holly Holm vs Irene Aldana, as well as a card on Aug. 8, which is set to be headlined by Derrick Lewis taking on Alexey Oleinik.
Also, the UFC 252 pay-per-view (PPV) event will go down on Aug. 15 and will feature a championship trilogy fight between Heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic, taking on former UFC champ-champ, Daniel Cormier. The addition of Romero vs Hall would definitely boost up either of those events, or it could very well get top billing for another Fight Night event later in the month.
But as we have seen already this year, everything can change at a moment’s notice.