Report: Yoel Romero out of fight against Uriah Hall

An anticipated middleweight clash between Yoel Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) and Uriah Hall (15-9 MMA, 8-7 UFC) will not happen as planned, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told BJPENN.com. The sources asked for anonymity since the news hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.

The two 185-pound fighters were expected to lock horns on August 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the UFC APEX facility. They were slated to co-headline the event.

Unfortunately, Romero has been forced out of the bout due to still undisclosed reasons.

Romero, a former world gold medalist and an Olympic silver medalist would have entered the fight on a three-bout losing streak, having racked up losses against Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa, and the current Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title-holder, Israel Adesanya.

On the other hand, Uriah “Prime Time” Hall would have entered the fight with Romero riding back-to-back victories over Bevon Lewis and Antonio Carlos Junior.

“I’m not trying to fight Yoel to survive, I’m trying to fight him to take him out,” Uriah Hall said about the Romero fight in a previous interview. “I feel like I’m in my prime. I thought I was in my prime at 28, I’m definitely in my prime now. Regardless of what the UFC wants to give or show, I’m ready. I’m ready to show those attributes and a guy like Yoel, you’ve got to go after him. You’ve got to fight him. I just want to go after him. I’m excited to go after him. I’m not going to be reckless or careless because that dude hits like a truck, but I’m trying to get a title shot. My main focus is to get to the champ. I’m not even looking at the belt. Izzy is the trophy. I want to fight his style. That excites me more than a (expletive) belt.”

Hall’s plans will seemingly now have to wait, as the UFC is looking for a late replacement to keep Hall on that card, sources told BJPENN.com.

With Yoel Romero our, who would you like to see Uriah Hall square off with?