UFC contender Paulo Costa: We’ll wait for Yoel Romero, ‘whenever he’s ready’

One of the anticipated matchups for the UFC’s New York City event at UFC 230 is a middleweight fight between Paulo Henrique Costa and Yoel Romero. Romero, however, said this week that he will not be able to take the fight to give himself more time to heal from surgery.

“Maybe four or five months. The doctor said, ‘Yoel needs more time.’ You know me. If you give me somebody, I take it. But you need to be smart. When the doctor says, ‘You’re ready,’ you can go. I’m waiting.”

Antonio Carlos Junior did volunteer to step in as Romero’s replacement, but from his end, Costa is willing to wait until the “Soldier of God” has fully recovered.

“There’s no reason why I’d do another fight before,” Costa told Brazilian outlet Combate (via MMAjunkie). “He’s first in the (UFC’s) ranking, so there’s no better fighter for me to fight, considering that Kelvin Gastelum and Robert Whittaker were already set to fight for the title. I think that’s the fight to make. So we’ll wait for him.

“Whenever he’s ready, I’ll be ready to beat him and go on in my journey toward the belt.”

“Borrachinha” is giving Romero all the time he needs, but is expecting the fight to take place in the early part of the coming year.

“It looks like he wants more time to train, to be ready for our fight,” he said. “But this fight will happen. I’ll wait for him to return. I’ll give him the time he needs to train. The time he finds necessary to be ready for our fight. And I’ll wait. This fight should happen early next year, 2019.”

As of this posting, both Costa and Romero are still part of the card, which takes on November 3^rd at Madison Square Garden. A headliner fight has yet to be determined.