Issue 176
March 2019
Yoel Romero’s weight issues continued at UFC 225 where he was scheduled to face Robert Whittaker for the UFC middleweight title on June 9. The Cuban again missed weight, this time by 0.2 pounds and was again ineligible come fight night to win UFC gold.
Thankfully, the fight itself was incredible. In a true contrast from their first fight in 2017, both Romero and Whittaker took the fight to one another and landed crushing blows that would’ve rendered lesser men unconscious. It was a back-and-forth contest where both men looked likely to finish their opponent, but somehow it went the distance and it was the champion Whittaker who ultimately got his hand raised via a split decision.
Months after the fight, Whittaker described striking Romero as like “punching a man made of steel.” Having shared ten rounds with each other in the UFC Octagon, there’s no doubt an enormous amount of respect between two of the greatest middleweight fighters in the world today.
UFC 225 also saw Colby Covington strap a UFC title around his waist for the first time after he impressively outworked Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main event.
Covington’s antics outside of the cage this year have left a few cold, but no one could deny the quality of this performance. His relentless pressure was at times messy, but he drowned the Brazilian with volume and deservedly captured an interim title that he would controversially be stripped of just three months later.
At the same event, CM Punk suffered the second loss of his professional MMA career after Mike Jackson outclassed him in every aspect of the game in what was his only fight of the year. Dana White later stated it would be incredibly unlikely that Punk gets another opportunity to compete inside the Octagon, though at press time he still remains in the USADA testing pool.
June also featured another epic middleweight title fight in ONE Championship with champion Aung La Nsang and challenger Ken Hasegawa going toe-to-toe for the best part of four and a half rounds. After coming through a tough start to the fight, Nsang finished the Japanese fighter with a devastating combination in round five to send the fans in Yangon into euphoria. It’s a fight you have to see if it passed you by the first time.
Also this month
- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defended her Bellator women’s flyweight title for the first time when she defeated Alejandra Lara at Bellator 201.
- Bellator announced a nine-figure, multi-year distribution deal with streaming service DAZN.
- British promotion BAMMA hosted their last show in London. Further dates were announced for 2018, but the promotion seemingly dissolved with no official statement given on why the events were canceled or whether the organization will continue to exist.
