UFC Fight Night 70: Machida vs. Romero Date: June 27, 2015 Location: Hollywood, Florida Venue: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Broadcast: FS1 UFC Middleweight Lyoto Machida Lyoto Machida (22-6) is now 36 years old but remains one of the top middleweights in the sport. After a long career at 205lbs, where he was the division’s champion, Machida decided to move down to 185 in 2013, and overall the results have been solid. Machida started off his middleweight run against Mark Munoz at UFC Fight Night 30, and quickly knocked him out in the first round with a beautiful head kick. He then followed it up with a decision win over Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 36 to earn a title shot, but was edged out by the champ Chris Weidman at UFC 175. But he bounced back from the Weidman loss with a brutal body kick knockout of CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 58 to get a No. 1 contender fight against Luke Rockhold. He lost to Rockhold in devastating fashion, but he wants to get back in the ring quickly, and will take on Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC Fight Night 70 in what should be a tremendous fight between two of the division’s best. UFC Middleweight Yoel Romero A former Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling for Cuba, Yoel Romero (9-1) has quickly evolved into one of the best middleweight fighters in the world even at 38 years of age. Training at American Top Team, Romero looks better and better every time we see him in the Octagon, and proves the old adage “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” wrong. Since moving to the UFC and dropping to 185lbs, Romero has gone 5-0 with wins over Tim Kennedy, Brad Tavares, Clifford Starks, Derek Brunson and Ronny Markes. He has exceptional wrestling and he has knockout power on the feet, and with a win over Lyoto Machida at UFC Fight Night 70, he could very well get a middleweight title shot before the end of the year is up. Opening Fight Night 70 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Machida a -185 favorite (bet $185 to win $100) while Romero opened as a +145 underdog (bet $100 to win $145) at Several Bookmakers. This is a tough fight to call. Machida looked horrible against Rockhold, but that’s Rockhold we’re talking about, and other than that he’s looked amazing since dropping to 185lbs, even giving the champ Weidman a run for his money in a five-round war. As for Romero, he’s been a beast since moving to middleweight himself, but he has not fought the same level of competition as Machida. He is also coming off of a long layoff, although Machida is making a surprisingly-quick turnaround since the Rockhold fight, which is definitely something to consider when picking this fight as it appeared he suffered some sort of concussion in that bout. Both Machida and Romero are fantastic fighters who are skilled in both the grappling and striking departments and this fight will determine who gets to stick around in the title talks at 185lbs. Considering it’s five rounds, it’s hard not to lean a bit towards Machida and his superior cardio, but this is a really tough fight to pick, and that’s why you see the odds so competitive.
