Yoel Romero wants Anderson Silva at UFC 212 for interim middleweight title

Unfortunately for Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastelum was recently forced out of their upcoming bout at UFC 212 on June 3 in Brazil due to a failed United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) test for marijuana metabolites. Luckily for the legendary Brazilian fighter, top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight contender Yoel Romero is willing to step in for Gastelum and challenge “Spider” at UFC 212. He only asks that the fight be for the interim 185-pound title.

Remember, Romero got snubbed for a title shot after Georges St-Pierre returned to action and quickly booked a fight with current middleweight king Michael Bisping. As a fighter who should have already fought for UFC gold, this may be Romero’s easiest route to lock down a chance to win a belt.

As for Silva, this could be his opportunity to affirmatively re-enter the 185-pound title hunt. His recent victory over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 proved he can hang in there with some of the more athletic and physically gifted middleweights on the roster, so maybe he can muster some magic against “Soldier of God” in front of his home crowd.

Considering UFC has been very quick to throw around interim titles of late, don’t be surprised if this fight is actually booked in the coming weeks. Because if Silva was able to defeat Romero and capture the interim title, it would set up a huge rematch with Bisping or a long-awaited superfight wth GSP.

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