On this day in 2017, Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero participated in one of the battles of the year after saving the UFC 213 event.
There have been a lot of incredible rivalry in the history of UFC with the most striking between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jones and Daniel Cormier.
One of the largest middleweight rivalry, however, came between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero, and not because the two stars had a hatred for each other.
Only in July 8, 2017 when the two met each other for the first time in the UFC Octagon when they played it out for the interim -midweight title in a legendary fight.
Photo by Rey del Rio/Getty images
Whittaker and Romero stored UFC 213 after Amanda Nunes had withdrawn hours before the event
Initially, the UFC 213 Main Event would be determined between two of the greatest female hunters of all time in Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko.
The first two bumped in 2016 at UFC 196 on the Undercard of McGregor vs Diaz and 'The Lioness' made the unanimous decision.
Nunes then won the Bantamweight title and fans called for a rematch between the two and it was officially booked for the UFC 213 Main Event. Although, just a few hours before the event started, Nunes withdrew from the game due to illness, leaving Whittaker and Romero behind as the main event.
Early in the fight, 'The Soldier of God' showed his wild fighting style and tried to use his incredible wrestling to bring Whittaker to the ground.
Only the second round when Romero finally landed a Takedown on 'The Reaper', however, was he unable to do a lot with it, because the Australian went back to his feet shortly thereafter.
It was in the third round when Whittaker started to have more success with his striking, while Romero looked forward to the fight lasted longer.
Again in rounds four and five, Whittaker checked when Romero tried to continue his struggle, but could not get anyone going and was on the wrong side of a unanimous decision.
Michael Bisping threw his UFC title on the floor after the victory of Whittaker
With his victory over Romero, Whittaker was supposed to have earned himself a fight against the then understood middleweight champion, Michael Bisping.
After the fight, the British champion stepped into the Achthoek and then threw his title on the floor in anger after he 'disgusted' that Whittaker was celebrating with the interim title.
Bisping does not continue fighting 'The Reaper' and fought against Georges St-Pierre instead against Georges, who then lost his title. 'GSP' retired shortly thereafter and Whittaker was upgraded to the undisputed champion.