The middleweight title will officially go up for grabs in the main event at UFC 225 as champion Robert Whittaker puts his belt on the line against Yoel Romero on June 9 from the United Center in Chicago.
UFC officials confirmed the fight on Wednesday.
The rematch is OFFICIAL!@RobWhittakerMMA makes the first defense of his MW strap against former foe @YoelRomeroMMA at #UFC225 in the Chi! pic.twitter.com/qFSl0nUWUc
— UFC (@ufc) March 15, 2018
For Whittaker, this will serve as his first title defense after defeating Romero to originally win the interim belt last July while then champion Michael Bisping was on hiatus. Whittaker was later declared the undisputed champion when Georges St-Pierre defeated Bisping but was unable to defend his belt in a timely fashion due to a crippling bout of ulcerative colitis.
Whittaker was then scheduled for a showdown with former champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 in Australia but he was then forced out of their bout while dealing with an internal illness of his own. That sidelined Whittaker for several weeks but just recently the reigning middleweight champion announced that he hoped to return at UFC 225.
As for Romero, after he suffered a heartbreaking decision loss to Whittaker last July he immediately jumped at the chance to fill in for him against Rockhold at UFC 221.
While Romero unfortunately missed weight for the fight, he did end up pulling off a spectacular third round knockout to finish Rockhold and secure his place as the No. 1 contender in the middleweight division.
Romero was then told that UFC 225 was the most likely landing spot for the fight and the former Olympic silver medalist gladly accepted the date as he anxiously awaits his second shot at gold while also looking to avenge his prior loss to Whittaker.
With Romero vs. Whittaker confirmed as the main event, the UFC will continue to put together the card in Chicago with sources saying that the promotion is hoping to add a second title fight at the top of the card along with the middleweight championship bout.
In addition to those fights, former WWE superstar CM Punk is reportedly eyeing his next fight at UFC 225 as well.
What do you think about the rematch between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero at UFC 225? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
