How quickly things can change in the world of MMA.
Around this time last week, the UFC’s inaugural trip to Madison Square Garden in November was looking pretty underwhelming, to say the least. Conor McGregor was apparently injured and negotiations with Eddie Alvarez were going nowhere, Al Iaquinta had bowed out of his fight with Thiago Alves due to a contract dispute, and it appeared that Chris Weidman would be joining him in solidarity on the sidelines as well. UFC 205 was looking more and more like a Fight Night card by the day.
Cut to this week, when the UFC not only managed to book women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate in a pair of high-profile bouts, but announced yesterday that a lightweight title fight between McGregor and Alvarez will be headlining the event as well. Satisfied? Well don’t be, because another #wouldwatch fight has just joined the card as well!
According to MMAFighting, a middleweight bout between former champion Chris Weidman and top contender Yoel Romero has just been made official for UFC 205. The announcement was first made by Dana White on The Boomer & Carton Show this morning.
A Long Island native, Weidman has yet to return to action since losing his title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 last December in a back-and-forth battle. The Serra-Longo product was briefly scheduled to rematch Rockhold at UFC 199 until an injury forced him out of the contest and saw Michael Bisping step in on short notice and KO Rockhold in the first round. Romero, on the other hand, is currently riding a seven fight win streak in the UFC, including wins over the likes of Lyoto Machida, Tim Kennedy, and Ronaldo Souza.
White did not reveal whether the winner of Weidman vs. Romero would be next in line to face the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson II at UFC 204 for the middleweight title, but between that fight and Luke Rockhold’s upcoming rematch with Jacare Souza, you’d have to imagine that the next challenger will be determined in the coming months. Until then, though, let’s just hope that everyone involved in the suddenly stacked UFC 205 card can stay healthy until November.
