For now the 5th time in the UFC, a Yoel Romero fight has been shelved. Three of those by the way were to be against Jacare Souza. Jacare by the way was Uriah Hall's last opponent who had to bow out due to testing positive for Covid-19.
This time Yoel Romero was to be the co-main event next week at The UFC APEX Center in a key middleweight fight against Uriah Hall. Second on the card to Frankie Edgar's move to bantamweight against Pedro Munhoz.
Yoel Romero out of Uriah Hall fight
The 43-year-old Cuban who trains at American Top Team was looking to end a really bad skid as of late. He's dropped 3 in a row and 4 of five. Granted they all came via decisions and hasn't been finished since 2011 back in Strike Force, his only other loss.
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The 36-year-old New Yorker, "Primetime" was looking to extend his win streak to three. Both MMA Fighting and BJ PENN were the first to break the news. While UFC officials have yet to publicly announce the bad news.
With the state of Florida seeing upticks in COVID cases still, that's the first thought of what happened. As injuries are usually said by fighters and camps right off the bat. Yes, he's had weight-cutting issues as well, but it's highly doubtful that has anything to do with this.
Hall had called for the fight with Yoel Romero in the past. But if the UFC intends on still having the former on the card, they have to move quickly to find a replacement. Jack Hermansson who is on everyone's mouth recently most likely wouldn't want the fight against the 9th ranked Hall. Too much to risk for the 4th ranked "Joker", as he's too close for a title shot.
But Derek Brunson who's just 2 slots above Uriah just extended his win streak to three last week against Edmen Shahbazyan, would be a perfect replacement. Add the fact Brunson has a 1st round TKO win over Hall adds to the storyline. And Hall most likely wants to run that fight back anyways.