This morning (Fri. June 8, 2018) Yoel Romero missed weight for his scheduled UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) main event against Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title, weighing in at 186 pounds.
Romero was given an extra two hours by the Illinois Athletic Commission to cut the extra pound. Two hours later, the Cuban weighed in .2 pounds over weight at 185.2. As a result, the UFC middleweight title fight main event is currently up-in-the-air.
A few possibilities now linger. Either the fight can continue on as a non-title middleweight bout, or the fight is scrapped altogether.
With Romero weighing in only .2 pounds overweight, the UFC may choose to recognize Romero as the middleweight champ should he win regardless.
This is now the second title fight in a row that Romero has missed weight for. Back in February Romero came in overweight for an interim middleweight championship match-up against Luke Rockhold in Australia.
Romero wound up winning that fight via third round knockout. Whittaker initially indicated that if Romero missed weight he would refuse to fight him. Earlier this week he then changed his tone a bit, saying he didn’t come all the way over from Australia not to fight.
It should be interesting to see what decision is made in regards to the UFC 225 main event after Romero missed weight by just .2 pounds.
UPDATE:
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reports that the UFC is actively working to keep the fight between Romero and Whittaker on the card:
UFC working with camps to keep the Whittaker/Romero fight together. Hard to predict what happens at this point. We’ll see.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 8, 2018
UPDATE X2:
Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reports that the Illinois Athletic Commission stopped Romero’s weight-cut an hour into the two extra hours he was given. They suggested it was a medical decision, despite a doctor being with Romero and not stopping the cut.
In the end, the doctor could not overrule the commission’s decision:
Just spoke to Yoel Romero’s manager Abraham Kawa. He said an hour into the extra 2 hours they had to cut the one pound, the exec. director of the Illinois Commission told Romero to stop the cut and weigh in.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 8, 2018
They were told it was a medical call, though they said a doctor was w/ them and wasn’t stopping it, though that doctor couldn’t overrule the head the commission. It took them a while to get downstairs but they firmly believe if given the full 2 hours he would have made it.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 8, 2018
In fact, he said his team believes all he needed was five more minutes. They have yet to be given an official reason as to why it was called off an hour early. As for Romero’s state, Kawa said, “I was scared for him in Australia, I wasn’t scared for him today.” They are upset.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 8, 2018
As for whether Whittaker-Romero 2 will continue as a non-title fight tomorrow, I’m told that is TBD at this time. No official call has been made. Still much to discuss.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 8, 2018
Stay with LowKickMMA for the latest on the matter….
