'Jacare' Souza vs. Yoel Romero middleweight clash set for UFC 184 in L.A.

The February UFC return to Los Angeles is headlined by a middleweight title fight, and there will be two other contenders on the bill, as well.

Yoel Romero (9-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is set to meet Ronaldo Souza (21-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 184. Promotion officials announced the new bout on Thursday, saying verbal agreements are in place.

Featuring a pair of championship matchups with UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman facing Vitor Belfort and UFC women’s bantamweight title holder Ronda Rousey facing Cat Zingano, UFC 184 takes place Feb. 28 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. The evening’s main card airs on pay-per-view.

Romero will put his unbeaten UFC record on the line. He went a perfect 3-0 in 2014 with a pair of “Fight of the Night” wins. In January, he stopped Derek Brunson in the third round of a big comeback to win his first bonus of the year. And after a decision win over Brad Tavares in April, he stopped Tim Kennedy in the third round at UFC 178.

The win over Kennedy was a controversial one. Romero was saved by the bell in the second round and wobbled back to his corner. When the third round started, he didn’t get up from his stool, and there was confusion over who was to blame over his stool not being removed in a timely manner, conceivably giving him extra time to recover after the punishment he took late in the second. But just 38 seconds in the third, he stopped Kennedy with a TKO.

“Jacare” Souza has won seven straight fights since losing his Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold a little more than three years ago, and six of those seven wins are by stoppage. Since coming to the UFC in the merger with Strikeforce, he has a “Submission of the Night” win over Chris Camozzi, a TKO of Yushin Okami, a decision win over Francis Carmont, and in September, a “Fight of the Night” submission of Gegard Mousasi.

Souza sits at No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie middleweight rankings, while Romero is at No. 10. “Jacare” also is an Honorable Mention in the current pound-for-pound rankings.

With the addition to the card, UFC 184 now includes:

• Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort
• Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano
• Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva
• Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo Souza

For more on UFC 184, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Ronaldo Souza)