Fourth time’s the charm, Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa targeted for UFC 241

The UFC middleweight division homes several super talented competitors and at the very top, each is continually producing great fights.

Two of the division’s most devastating finishers are undeniably the pairing of Cuba’s ‘Soldier of God,’ the Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, Yoel Romero (13-3) and Brazil’s knockout extraordinaire, Paulo Costa (12-0).

Originally, the experienced veteran and the promising rising prospect were expected to meet at UFC 230 in November 2018. However, Romero was still dealing with a broken orbital bone following his war with the champion, Robert Whittaker a few months prior.

The idea was then for the bout to be made at UFC Brooklyn in January… that wouldn’t happen either. And most recently, the two were looking to headline against one another at UFC Fort Lauderdale which took place two weeks ago and wound up seeing Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza face Jack Hermansson instead.

Now, the fourth time will hopefully be the charm as ESPN is confirming that both men have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 241 on August 17. The fight would be the second addition to the card following the announcement of Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic 2.

Prior to the potential last fight at UFC Fort Lauderdale, Romero would insinuate that Costa was out of their bout due to a possible USADA test failure. Something that wound up not being entirely true as well as something that Costa didn’t take too kindly to.

“Yoel Romero needs to understand this is personal,” Costa told ESPN. “He’s a liar. He’s a Soldier of God? How can he call himself a Soldier of God if he is spreading gossip? He’s a soldier of devil for spreading lies. And he’s going to pay. Now is the time for him to pay.”

For Paulo Costa, his last fight took place in July 2018 when he defeated Uriah Hall in a fun fight while it lasted. The 28-year old would end up scoring the TKO win in the second round.

In the end, here’s to hoping that they finally get to fight it out at UFC 241 once and for all.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/7/2019