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Robert Whittaker Won The UFC Interim Middleweight Championship On One Leg And Michael Bisping Was NOT Impressed

Robbie Fox
Robbie Fox7/09/2017 5:53 AM

Those highlights don’t tell the full story of the fight, but there are no highlights that would, so they’re the best you’re gonna get. What was left of the UFC 213 card turned out to be a decent time tonight, and it was main evented by one of the best fights of the year.

Yoel Romero vs Robert Whittaker, as cliche and shitty as it is, was a tale of two halves. In the opening exchanges, Romero injured Bobby’s leg with a push kick and made it worse with multiple takedown shots.

Yoel didn’t seem to pick up on it, though, and neither did his corner. Joe Rogan was actually puzzled on commentary as to how he wasn’t attacking the left leg directly, as Whittaker could barely stand on it. Perhaps the Soldier of God didn’t realize what he’d done because of Whittaker’s phenomenal takedown defense and scrambles.

After the first two rounds were VERY clearly won by Romero, he either gassed or decided to take a round off in the third. I’m not taking a shot at him when I say he “decided to take a round off”, it’s something he’s been known to do. Whittaker put that fucked ass foot to the pedal here, and turned the entire dynamic of the fight.

After the following rounds (3 and 4) were just as clearly Bobby Knuckles’ as the first two were Romero, we went into the fifth and final round tied. One man had nothing left in the tank, and one man had one leg to stand on. Whittaker just looked like he wanted it more from the opening seconds to the closing seconds, and when Romero slipped/kinda got dropped in the final moments of the fight, I knew it was over.

It was a seriously amazing fight, and went way over my (already high) expectations. Some fights are able to go beyond punching and grappling and athleticism, and tell a compelling story. This was one of them. It was like a movie, and even as someone who bet on Romero, I wanted to see Whittaker win by the end of it. Oh, and what a fucking idiot I am for betting Romero. I was undefeated on the entire card until this fight. Always seems to work out like that, but I digress.

After the battle, UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping (who was cageside, ripping up Cuban flags and throwing them at Romero during the fight, no, I’m not joking) entered the cage with his strap over his shoulder, almost got into a fight with Yoel, and then cut this fantastic heel promo on the new interim champ.

We’ll see where things go from here, because while the UFC’s plan is to have the Middleweight Champions unify the belts, moving the returning Georges St Pierre into the Welterweight Title picture, Bisping and GSP have other plans. They still want to fight. Plus, nobody knows the extent of the knee injury on Robert Whittaker. He said it was hurt during training and re-hurt in this fight, so we might have to see an Interim Interim UFC Middleweight Champion.

The rest of the card was kinda meh. Curtis Blaydes vs Daniel Omiela?czuk was an all time boring fat heavyweights gassing fight and Fabricio Werdum vs Alistair Overeem was just BARELY more entertaining than their last two fights. Rob Font vs Douglas Silva de Andrade was a fun opener where Font made it look easy to submit Silva de Andrade, and Anthony Pettis vs Jim Miller was a great scrap where we got to see Showtime return to his previous form more than he has in years. Nothing about this night felt HUGE, though, especially following last year’s massive UFC 200, and I’m not sure Amanda Nunes vs Valentina Shevchenko would’ve changed that. July 29th’s UFC 214 will have THAT feel, and we got a little taste of it with the trailer for Daniel Cormier vs Jon Jones II. In my opinion, it may be the best UFC fight trailer ever made. Check it out!


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Robbie Fox
Robbie Fox7/09/2017 5:53 AM