White says Whittaker-Romero staying on UFC 225 card as non-title fight
After MMA fans spent most of the day trying to guess who'd headline UFC 225 and what will be on the line, Dana White told the FOX Sports broadcast that Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero will fight in the main event Saturday as a five-round, non-title fight.
"The fight's on, that's all that matters," said White, according to MMAjunkie's Mike Bohn.
Romero missed weight by 0.2 pounds on his second attempt Friday, making him ineligible to win the middleweight title, though he claims the Illinois Commission forced him to stop cutting weight one hour into his two-hour window.
The 41-year-old Cuban is the first UFC fighter to miss weight for multiple championship bouts, having come in overweight for his interim title fight with Luke Rockhold last February. Romero won that bout, but was not eligible for the title, setting up the UFC 225 main event.
This is the second time Whittaker and Romero have met in the last 11 months as the Australian won their first meeting by unanimous decision to gain the interim middleweight title, which was later upgraded to undisputed. Whittaker is returning to the Octagon for the first time since beating Romero, but will have to wait longer to make his first official title defense.
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