Yoel Romero couldn’t win the UFC interim middleweight title in the UFC 221 main event Saturday night, but it appears that he’ll challenge the division’s undisputed titleholder in the near future.
Ahead of his pivotal clash against Luke Rockhold in Perth, Australia, Romero missed weight, making him ineligible to take home the interim championship; Rockhold, though, could still win it had he won. But Romero knocked out the former champion with a brutal left hand and uppercut early in the third round, solidifying his spot as the No. 1 contender.
Despite the weight miss, the plan is to have Romero face middleweight champ Robert Whittaker — in a rematch — next, per UFC president Dana White.