Robert Whittaker Beats Yoel Romero In An Instant Classic With Only One Hand
The second fight between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero may not have been for the UFC Middleweight Championship, but you’d never know that by the way the two men fought.
Yoel Romero missing weight once again and not being eligible to win a title tonight really put a damper on the evening, I thought. As the two combatants made their walk to the octagon when come time for the main event, I just wasn’t feeling it. At best, Robert Whittaker beats Yoel Romero in a great fight and retains his championship and status-quo as the best 185lb-er in the world. At worst, Romero knocks him out right away, forcing a rematch (as he wouldn’t be champion, but would have a win over the champion), putting the Middleweight Division on hold, continuing the trend of undefeated missed-weight fighters in 2018, and raising major questions around the trilogy fight about whether or not he’ll hit the scale correctly this time around. There was no “big fight feel”.
As the main event began, however, I started becoming more and more invested in it (I always forget just how damn awesome Whittaker is to watch), and the champ was gaining more and more momentum. Yoel wasn’t all that aggressive early on, and was showing us the “knockout or bust” version of himself, as Brett Okamoto of ESPN put it, and Whittaker was just finding this crazy great groove. Landing hard shots, closing up the right eye of Romero, and slipping everything thrown at him. Annnnnd then Third Round Romero hit. And he hit hard.
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Romero got just about as close to finishing Whittaker as could be, but the Champion showed ridiculous heart (even more than CM Punk!) and powered through recovery like a fucking zombie (shoutout Chan Sung Jung). As the third ended, Bobby Knuckles blasted Romero with a head kick that showed us all that he still had a lot more left in the tank.
The fourth round made us realize that Whittaker’s right hand was badly injured – if you hadn’t already figured it out – and likely broken (later to be confirmed in his post-fight interview, where he revealed it was broken in the very first round!), and allowed Romero to take charge and capitalize on the Australian’s lack of limb. The fifth saw Romero drop Whittaker yet again, POURING on ground and pound, but once again, Whittaker’s chin and resilience didn’t allow the referee to step in at any point. He didn’t give a shit that this fight didn’t matter much at all. He had something to prove. And prove it he did.
The judges saw the contest 48-47 Romero, 48-47 Whittaker, and 48-47 Whittaker.
Tonight, Robert Whittaker reminded the world that he is not only the best UFC Middleweight in the world, but one of the greatest mixed martial artists, period, in the world.
More on UFC 225 to come.