Yoel Romero will meet Luke Rockhold for the Interim UFC middleweight title in the UFC 221 main event on Saturday 11th February, at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia.
Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was originally scheduled to challenge UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker for the undisputed title. Whittaker was removed from the card due to a staph infection which left him unable to compete. Rockhold has made the permanent move to his new home in Florida where he now trains under the tutelage of former Blackzilians coach Henri Hooft. Luke was a longtime member of American Kickboxing Academy alongside UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Rockhold’s last UFC bout was a dominating win over the former two-divisional WSOF champion David Branch in September.
Yoel Romero fought for the interim UFC middleweight title last year at UFC 213, where he came up short against current UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. The former Olympian has racked up 8 wins in the UFC since joining the promotion in 2013. Romero’s last 3-wins have come against former champions Chris Weidman, Ronaldo Souza and Lyoto Machida.
UFC 221 Countdown: Romero vs. Rockhold
UFC 221 Main Card
Middleweight: Yoel Romero vs. Luke Rockhold
Heavyweight: Mark Hunt vs. Curtis Blaydes
Heavyweight: Tai Tuivasa vs. Cyril Asker
Welterweight: Jake Matthews vs. Li Jingliang
Light Heavyweight: Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov
UFC 221 Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Damien Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: Rob Wilkinson vs. Israel Adesanya
Featherweight: Jeremy Kennedy vs. Alexander Volkanovski
Flyweight: Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen
UFC Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Lightweight: Ross Pearson vs. Mizuto Hirota
Bantamweight: Teruto Ishihara vs. José Alberto Quiñónez
Welterweight: Luke Jumeau vs. Daichi Abe
