Robert Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero to capture the interim middleweight title and now that he’s been promoted to the full title, he’ll have to beat him again to retain the gold for the first time in the main event of UFC 225.

The 27-year-old Whittaker was promoted to the middleweight champion from interim status when Georges St-Pierre vacated the title in December of 2017.   He was scheduled to defend the belt against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, but a staph infection forced him to pull out of the fight.

The champion enters the fight on an eight-fight winning streak and hasn’t been defeated since dropping a first-round TKO to Stephen Thompson in February of 2014.

Romero stepped into the bout against Rockhold at the Sydney event and earned his way into the title fight with a third round, TKO victory.  Though the bout was originally scheduled to be for the interim title, Romero was ineligible to claim the gold with his victory due to missing weight before the bout.

The loss to Whittaker in the previous interim title fight broke an eight-fight winning streak that dated back to September of 2011, that included victories over former UFC champions Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida.

The 40-year-old has a 13-2 overall MMA record.

UFC 225 will take place at the United Center in Chicago on June 9th.