UFC Fight for the Troops 3: Yoel Romero stops Ronny Markes in the third

After falling short against Rafael Cavalcante in Strikeforce, the Cuban wrestler-turned-fighter in Yoel Romero now has two wins in the UFC as he stopped Ronny Markes by TKO in the third round at UFC Fight for the Troops 3 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Wednesday night.

The bout got off to a slow start, but an interesting one. Markes scored a takedown early, but Romero was able to stand almost immediately. The Brazilian connected with a left and many other potshots throughout the frame. Once again, it was Markes who was able to take Romero to the floor with a body lock trip. Romero was able to stand on a failed kimura attempt, however, and fire a sinning back first that missed the mark.

In the second round, Romero connected with elbows and knees from the clinch right away. Romero was even able to ragdoll Markes to the floor with the clinch while stuffing the Brazilian's shots and score shots of his own. A middle kick and straight left dropped Markes halfway through the frame, but Romero was reluctant to follow him down to the mat, forcing referee Mario Yamasaki to bring Markes to his feet. As the round ended, the two went back and forth trading wild shots, both scoring although Romero arguably got the best of it.

Round three is where things got interesting.

Markes started the third trying to score a double on Romero and picked up the offensive pace, but got absolutely nowhere with it. The Cuban was able to score two left hands that stunned Markes, but the Brazilian hung on. Then as Markes faded toward the fence, Romero cracked him with an overhand right that sent him crashing to the mat. A few follow-up hammerfists and Yamsaksi had no choice by to stop the contest. It ended at 1:39 of round 3.

Romero moves to 6-1 in MMA while Markes drops to 14-2.