Chris Weidman fought hard to get MMA legalized in his home state of New York, and it finally paid off in 2016. His dream of fighting at Madison Square Garden was fulfilled tonight at UFC 205, as the former middleweight champion took on Yoel Romero, who’d entered this fight having yet to lose inside the Octagon. Getting the win was of utmost importance for both men, as a title shot vs. Michael Bisping was at stake.
A raucous crowd cheered on Weidman in his first fight since losing his UFC title last December. it was a feeling out process in the opening two minutes. The hardest strike was a Romero body kick. Weidman dragged Romero down momentarily but the Cuban Olympic medalist in freestyle wrestling got back to his feet and successfully defended the single leg. Weidman looked for an axe kick and then quickly shifted to a takedown, but Romero stuffed it. Romero threw and partially landed a pair of uppercuts as Weidman was coming forward and Yoel grabbed a hold of his head. Chris shot for a takedown and got it, but Romero was back to his feet. This time around, Weidman stayed on the Cuban’s back to ride out a round where he was the more active and offensively successful fighter.
Romero drew some boos as his corner poured water over his body, and it took longer than expected to start round 2. Weidman’s multi-faceted attack kept Romero guessing, and Romero was struggling to pull the trigger. He did land a good left hand which Weidman took on the chin with seemingly no problem. Romero complained about an eye poke and basically called his own timeout. Replays showed he was clearly poked. On the restart, Romero had a kick caught and Weidman held the leg but couldn’t do anything with it. Yoel forced a sprawl out of Weidman, then likewise seconds later. Romero successfully took Weidman down with a foot sweep and then had control of his back against the fence, hoping to drag him to the mat again. Romero had Weidman down for about 1 second before Chris popped back up. Romero drove Weidman to the center of the cage and took him down and had his best moment of the fight. He got in some short punches to end the 2nd.
They exchanged kicks to the body to start the final round. Flying knee by Romero as just utterly destroyed Weidman and exploded his face into a bloody mess. A few more punches and the fight was over in the blink of an eye. One of the most amazing knockouts you will ever see. And Mario Yamasaki was frankly late to the party as far as stopping it. Weidman ducked his head and went for a takedown and the end result was something otherworldly.
Official result: Yoel Romero def. Chris Weidman via TKO (flying knee and punches) at :24 of round 3
Romero is now a perfect 8-0 in the UFC, while Weidman has dropped two in a row. He called out Michael Bisping in the post-fight interview, as Bisping threw him a pair of middle fingers from the Fox Sports studio at the top of the arena.