In an unexpected turn of events, the middleweight matchup of Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero and Luke Rockhold has become a middleweight title fight. The winner of Saturday’s offshore online gambling matchup of Romero and Rockhold will carry the interim middleweight belt. The middleweight matchup became a title fight due to Georges St. Pierre dealing with illness and Robert Whittaker pulling out. In addition to the highly anticipated middleweight title bout there will be four other main card bouts. This event takes place on Sunday in Australia but because of the time difference will be seen on Saturday night in the United States.
UFC 221 Romero vs. Rockhold
Date and Time: Sunday, February 11 (Saturday night in North America)
Location: Perth Arena, Perth, Australia
MMA Betting Online Odds at SBG:
Luke Rockhold 1½ (-190) -145
Yoel Romero 1½ (+165) +125
UFC 221 Romero vs. Rockhold TV Coverage: FS1
Who to bet on?
Besides the middleweight title bout between Romero and Rockhold, there are four other offshore online gambling matchups on the main card. Mark Hunt will face Curtis Blaydes in a heavyweight pairing. In another heavyweight showdown Tai Tuivasa will face Cyril Asker. Jake Matthews will take on Li Jingliang in a welterweight bout. And in the light heavyweight division Tyson Pedro will go up against Saparbek Safarov.
Main Bout
There were interesting circumstances in regards to the championship bout between Romero and Rockhold. The original card was supposed to feature an online sportsbook matchup between welterweight champion Georges St Pierre and interim champion Robert Whittaker. St. Pierre has had to step away from the octagon after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Whittaker was promoted to the interim middleweight championship that St Pierre had won before being sidelined, but Whittaker pulled out and was replaced Romero.
Yoel Romero
Yoel Romero has a career record of 14 bouts with 12 wins and two losses. Ten of his wins were by knockout with two decisions. Romero has suffered one knockout loss with one decision defeat. The native of Cuba was an Olympic wrestler for the Communist island in 2000. In his last bout Romero was defeated by Robert Whittaker in a decision that went the full five rounds. The bout took place July 8, 2017 and was for the interim UFC middleweight title.
Luke Rockhold
Luke Rockhold has a career record of 19 bouts with 16 wins and three losses. Out of his 19 wins ten were by submission, four by knockout and two by decision. All three of Rockhold’s losses were by knockout. Rockhold fights out of San Jose, California and has a versatile fighting style. In his last bout Rockhold scored a win by submission over David Branch at the 4:05 mark of the second round on September 16, 2017. It was a nice recovery for Rockhold who was coming off a first round knockout loss against Michael Bisping in his previous bout. The loss to Bisping was for the UFC middleweight championship. This is the second time that Rockhold is gunning for the middleweight title. On December 12, 2015 Rockhold won the UFC middleweight championship in a four round TKO by punches over Chris Weidman.
Matchup to Watch
This offshore online gambling features the multi-faceted Rockhold against the wresting oriented Romero. Rockhold as the previous middleweight champion rates respect and the contrast in styles plays to Rockhold’s strength.
UFC 221 Romero vs. Rockhold Betting Odds Picks
Rockhold should take full advantage of this chance at a second middleweight title.
MMA Betting Online Pick: Luke Rockhold
MMA Betting Online Score Prediction: Rockhold by decision.
Check out highlights of Rockhold’s last win over David Branch.