| UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | February 11, 2018 (2018-02-11) | |||
| Venue | Perth Arena | |||
| City | Perth, Australia | |||
| Attendance | 12,437[1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,810,520[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 130,000[2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that was held on February 11, 2018, atPerth Arena inPerth, Australia.[3]
While the UFC has hosted 11 previous events across the country, the event marked the promotion's first visit to Perth, inWestern Australia, after the state government overturned its ban oncage fighting.[3][4]
In order for the event to be broadcast live duringprime time hours on the east coast ofNorth America, the main card began at 11:00 a.m. local time in PerthWST, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 7:00 a.m. local time.[5]
While not officially announced by the promotion, aUFC Middleweight Championship unification bout between then championGeorges St-Pierre (who is also a former two timeUFC Welterweight Champion) and interim championRobert Whittaker (alsoThe Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner), was initially targeted to serve as the event headliner.[6][7][8] However, St-Pierre later indicated that he was currently mulling his future in the division and announced that he expected to be out indefinitely after being diagnosed withulcerative colitis.[9][10] Subsequently, St-Pierre vacated the championship on December 7 and Whittaker was promoted to undisputed champion. Whittaker was then expected to defend the championship against formerStrikeforce and UFC Middleweight ChampionLuke Rockhold in the main event.[11] However, it was announced on January 13 that Whittaker pulled out of the bout and was replaced by former middleweight interim title challengerYoel Romero, who was scheduled to face formerWSOF Middleweight andLight Heavyweight ChampionDavid Branch atUFC on Fox: Emmett vs. Stephens. The bout was also established as an interim title contest.[12]
A lightweight bout betweenJeremy Kennedy andAlexander Volkanovski was originally scheduled forUFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura. However, Kennedy pulled out due to a back injury.[13] The pairing was later rescheduled for this event.[14]
At the weigh-ins, Romero came in at 187.7 lb (after coming in at 188.3 lb in his first attempt), 2.7 pounds over the middleweight limit of 185 lb for a championship fight. As a result, in the event that Romero won the fight with Rockhold, he would be ineligible for the championship, while the latter was still eligible. Romero was fined 30% of his purse, which went to Rockhold and the bout proceeded as scheduled at a catchweight.[15]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Catchweight (187.7 lb) | Yoel Romero | def. | Luke Rockhold | KO (punches) | 3 | 1:48 | [a] |
| Heavyweight | Curtis Blaydes | def. | Mark Hunt | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–26, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Tai Tuivasa | def. | Cyril Asker | TKO (punches and elbows) | 1 | 2:18 | |
| Welterweight | Jake Matthews | def. | Li Jingliang | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–26, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Tyson Pedro | def. | Saparbek Safarov | Submission (kimura) | 1 | 3:54 | |
| Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Dong Hyun Ma | def. | Damien Brown | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Israel Adesanya | def. | Rob Wilkinson | TKO (knees and punches) | 2 | 3:37 | |
| Featherweight | Alexander Volkanovski | def. | Jeremy Kennedy | TKO (punches and elbows) | 2 | 4:57 | |
| Flyweight | Jussier Formiga | def. | Ben Nguyen | Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 1:43 | |
| Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Ross Pearson | def. | Mizuto Hirota | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | José Alberto Quiñónez | def. | Teruto Ishihara | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Luke Jumeau | def. | Daichi Abe | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–27, 28–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:[17]
