UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is gearing up for his next fight.

He is slated to fight #1 contender Yoel Romero in the main event of the upcoming UFC 225 pay-per-view event.

This won’t be the first time that these two fighters will face each other. If you recall,
Whittaker won the interim title when he beat Romero back at UFC 213 in July.

Then the promotion made him the champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the strap due to a medical condition in December after beating Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to win it.

As a result of Whittaker dealing with a staph infection in his stomach and did not receive proper treatment, he was forced to withdraw from his first title defense against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.

This led to the promotion booking an interim title bout between top contenders Rockhold and Romero. This led to Romero winning the fight.

While doing media to promote the upcoming title fight, Whittaker made his bold promise for this fight.

“He’s an amazing athlete. He’s an amazing fighter, and he was hella annoying to fight the first time, so I’m looking forward to a real annoying fight the second time.”

Whittaker told John Morgan of MMA Junkie in a recent interview. “I’m doing everything in my favor to stack the chips on my side, and I’m going to get in there and give him hell.

“If you want to see fireworks, make sure you tune in and watch me and Yoel go at it.”

UFC 225 is set to take place on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.

Although the Las Vegas-based promotion has yet to finalize the fight card, you can see the current lineup here:

Champ Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero – for middleweight title
Carla Esparza vs. Claudia Gadelha
Joseph Benavidez vs. Sergio Pettis
Curtis Blaydes vs. Alistair Overeem
Rashad Evans vs. Anthony Smith
Rashad Coulter vs. Allen Crowder
Andrei Arlovski vs. Tai Tuivasa
Dan Ige vs. Mike Santiago
CM Punk vs. TBA