UFCU history
up from the welterweight division.
He wasted no time finding a home at middleweight, delivering a fight-of-the-night performance in stopping Clint Hester and hasn’t looked back since.
There is only one man in the division who has racked up more wins on the trot than ‘The Reaper’ – his next opponent.
An Olympic silver medallist in freestyle wrestling, Romero (12-1) has won his last eight bouts, six by KO, building a reputation as the division’s most feared fighter.
It has not been without contro- versy, though.
Following a split decision victory over Souza in late 2015 Romero was slapped with a sixmonth suspension for taking a tainted supplement, raising suspicions over the 40-year-old Cuban crusher.
Whittaker shrugged off those concerns as he focused on his own preparation.
Asked how he planned to counter’s Romero’s expert ground game, Whittaker said: ‘‘The same way I always do, throw punches at him.
‘‘This fight is going to be GETTY IMAGES decided by who can dictate the pace and who can put their gameplan into play. If I can keep it standing it’s going to play straight into my gameplan..’’
Victory would set up a unification bout against Bisping.
‘‘It’s always been a goal and dream of mine to be able to bring the gold back to my countries. But I don’t need much more motivation to fight,’’ he said. ‘‘Anything other than the bloke standing opposite me wanting to punch my head in, if you can’t get motivated enough from that then I think you’re in the wrong sport.’’