When news emerged that Paulo Costa will be out for eight months, the UFC diverted its attention to another middleweight contender.
That man is none other than Yoel Romero, who despite losing three of his past four, appears be the one who will receive the next shot at newly crowned middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
After a brief back and forth with Adesanya on Twitter, Romero took to Instagram to send “The Last Stylebender” a message, demanding a date for the fight.
“Hey Israel, why you say I see you boy, why you say I see you soon boy? No, no, no, you don’t need to say something like this. Give me the (expletive) date. Give me the (expletive) date. Tell Dana White the (expletive) date, alright? That’s it.”
However, Costa responded on Romero’s post saying that contrary to what UFC president Dana White may have said, he will be ready by April, and wants Adesanya to wait for him.
“O my goodness, are you alive? Stay cool wherever you’re cause this funny skinny clown is my prey. I’ll defeat him on April, as I did with you, old Cuban.”
If Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) does indeed get the next shot, it will be his third crack at the title. He was ineligible to win the belt for two of them due to missing weight. The “Soldier of God” has been involved in a string of bad luck, suffering close decision losses to former 185-pound champ Robert Whittaker twice, and most recently Costa at UFC 241.
Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) recently put on his most impressive showing to date, running through Whittaker, taking him out in the second round at UFC 243 in Melbourne to win the title.
