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Yoel Romero to Fight Ronaldo Souza in Rematch at UFC Fight Night in April

Joseph Zucker

A little over three years after their first matchup, Yoel Romero and Ronaldo Souza will match up in the main event of UFC Fight Night on April 27, according to ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto.

Romero was victorious in the first meeting, earning a split decision at UFC 194 in December 2015.

Romero is the No. 1 middleweight challenger in UFC's official ranking, with Souza sitting third.

At the very least, Romero needs to register a win or two before he'd get another crack at middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Romero lost by unanimous decision to Whittaker at UFC 213 in July 2017 and then lost the rematch in a split decision last June at UFC 225.

Souza also fought Whittaker before Whittaker claimed the middleweight title. Souza suffered a TKO in the second round at UFC on Fox 24 in April 2017. Since then, Jacare has beaten Derek Brunson and Chris Weidman and fallen to Kelvin Gastelum.

Okamoto reported UFC had initially looked at Paulo Costa as Romero's opponent. Costa is unbeaten with 11 knockouts in his 12 fights.

Instead, Souza got the nod against Romero. According to ESPN.com's Ariel Helwani, Romero was recently eliminated from a reality show on which he was competing, which freed him up for an April event.

   

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