Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa Verbally Agree to Bout at UFC 241 on Aug. 17

The Ultimate Fighting Championship hasn’t given up on booking Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa just yet.

According to ESPN , the middleweight contenders have verbally agreed to square off at UFC 241 on Aug. 17. Romero and Costa have been circling each other in recent months, with potential bouts at UFC 230, UFC Brooklyn and UFC Fort Lauderdale all falling through for various reasons.

Romero hasn’t fought since June 2018, when he lost a split decision to Robert Whittaker in the UFC 225 main event; the bout was a non-title affair due to “The Soldier of God” missing weight. The Cuban wrestler was supposed to face Ronaldo Souza in a rematch at UFC Fort Lauderdale after the Costa bout failed to come to fruition, but Romero was forced to withdraw from the event due to illness.

Costa last appeared at UFC 226 this past July, where he improved his career mark to 12-0 with a second-round technical knockout of Uriah Hall. He recently completed a six-month USADA suspension for IV use in relation to bouts at UFC 212 and UFC 217.

UFC 241 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., and is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight title rematch between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic.