R. Whittaker is the new champion (Photo: Reproduction/Twitter/UFC_Brasil)
The New Zealander Robert whittaker achieved another great victory in his career, surpassing Yoel romero in the main fight of UFC 213 in a unanimous decision. With the triumph, “The Reaper” became the interim champion of the UFC middleweight category and will face the owner of the linear belt Michael Bisping in the next fight.
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Whittaker, who before April had never faced a top 5 fighter in the division, took on two of the biggest names in middleweight history by knocking out Ronaldo Jacare at UFC Kansas and, this Saturday (8), overcome Romero. After the duel with the Cuban, with the interim title around his waist, the New Zealander was provoked by Michael Bisping, lineal champion, but preferred to maintain respect for the British.
“Michael is a great champion, and I hope we can put on an excellent fight. He has been in the sport for a long time and is a champion for a reason. I think it was destiny that we met and we are going to have a great fight. He’s the champion for a reason and now I’m the number one contender for his title,” he declared.
The fight
Romero, who had won eight in a row and was undefeated at middleweight, began setting a strong pace. In the first two rounds, the Cuban was superior, looking for takedowns and alternating attacks on Whittaker's legs with straight shots and flying knees. The New Zealander fell a few times, but maintained the excellent level of takedown defense shown against Jacaré.
At the end of the second round, the new champion already showed signs that he would take control of the fight by connecting hard blows to Romero's head. The Cuban's kicks to the stomach also proved to be fundamental, as the “Soldier of God” began to feel the gas in the third round, which was “given” to Whittaker, as Romero seemed to choose to rest to have gas for the final rounds.
In the fourth round, Romero came with everything, closing the distance and looking for the clinch to work on top. Whittaker, however, was still in good physical shape and knew how to get rid of his opponent, keeping the fight at long range and landing even harder blows.
The fifth round was a repeat of the fourth, with the difference that Romero also started to move forward, looking for hard blows and connecting some punches on Whittaker. However, the fight became more for the New Zealander when the Cuban slipped and the new champion dove into Romero's guard, where he attacked his rival until the end of the fight.
UFC 213 results
MAIN CARD
Average weight: Robert whittaker won Yoel romero by unanimous decision (3x 48-47)
Heavyweight: alistair overeem won Fabricio Werdum by majority decision (28-28, 2x 29-28)
Heavyweight: Curtis blaydes beat Daniel Omielanczuk by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)
Lightweight: Anthony Pettis won Jim Miller by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)
Bantamweight: Rob font won Douglas D'Silva by submission (guillotine) at 4m36s of R2
PRELIMINARY CARD
Heavyweight: Alexey Oliynyk defeated Travis Browne via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:44 of R2
Welterweight: Chad Laprise defeated Brian Camozzi via TKO at 1:27 of R3
Average weight: Thiago Marreta won Gerald meerschaert by technical knockout at 2:04 of R2
Welterweight Weight: Belal Muhammad | beat Jordan Mein by unanimous decision (2x 29-28, 30-27)
Feather weight: cody stmann beat Terrion Ware by unanimous decision (2x 30-27, 29-28)
Light Heavyweight: Trevin giles beat James Bochnovic by knockout at 2:54 of R2
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