An eagerly anticipated bantamweight title fight between Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw has now been officially scrapped from the UFC 213 event in Las Vegas on July 8th, but an interim middleweight belt will now be up for grabs at the show.
135lb champion Garbrandt has been suffering from a back injury recently, and despite recent stem cell treatment in Germany there’s just not enough enough time for him to get in fighting shape for his first title defense in a little over a month’s time.
In their place a new 185lb interim title fight between current No.1 contender Yoel Romero and the No.3 ranked Robert Whittaker has now been announced.
Romero had briefly been tagged for a fight with current middleweight champion Michael Bisping, but when ‘The Count’ revealed he was suffering from a knee injury and wouldn’t be ready in time for the July event, the UFC decided to bring the interim belt into play.
‘The Soldier Of God’ certainly deserves a chance to fight for the strap one way or another as he’s amassed an eight-fight winning streak in the division that includes big victories over stars like Chris Weidman, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, Lyoto Machida and Tim Kennedy.
Whittaker has also been hammering on the door of title contention recently after building a seven-fight unbeaten run that most recently saw him dispatch ‘Jacare’ via a head kick and punches last month, having previously defeated the likes of Uriah Hall and Derek Brunson.
Romero Vs Whittaker is expected to take the co-main event spot on the UFC 213 card during International Fight Week, with a woman’s bantamweight title encounter between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko serving as the headliner.
Other big fights confirmed for the line-up include Robbie Lawler Vs Donald Cerrone, Alistair Overeem Vs Fabricio Werdum III and Anthony Pettis Vs Jim Miller.
