After Yoel Romero came down with pneumonia and was forced out of the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale. Jack Hermansson has stepped up to take on Jacare Souza on short notice.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto first reported the change to the UFC Fort Lauderdale main event.
The saga of the UFC Fort Lauderdale main event has been wild. It was first rumored to be Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero, but it was never made official before it was announced that Jacare Souza and Romero would headline the card. After Romero pulled out, Costa was reportedly going to fill in, but that didn’t happen and instead, Jack Hermansson will be fighting Souza.
Souza has also been promised a title shot with a victory (which doesn’t mean much). That potential title shot will have to wait, though. The middleweight interim title will be fought for next weekend, then that title will have to be unified with champion Robert Whittaker before Souza gets that shot.
Jack Hermansson has been excellent lately, going 5-1 in his last six fights. He defeated David Branch in under a minute last week in the UFC Philadelphia co-main event to extend his win streak to three. “Joker” is now ranked 10th in the weight class and will be facing third-ranked Souza to propel himself into title contention.
Jacare Souza is 9-3 in the Octagon, but losses to Yoel Romero, Robert Whittaker, and Kelvin Gastelum have all resulted in title shots for the opponents. He is coming off a knockout win over former champion Chris Weidman.
UFC Fort Lauderdale takes place on April 27 from the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. The co-main event is between former NFL all-pro Greg Hardy and Dmitry Smolyakov. John Lineker will also be taking on up-and-comer Cory Sandhagen in a guaranteed barn-burner, and Glover Teixeira will face Ion Cutelaba.
