Yoel Romero
will make his Bellator debut against Phil Davis on
Sept. 18, sources told @MikeCoppinger
after an initial report by Ariel Helwani. pic.twitter.com/KnGmd2gGeQ— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
August 13, 2021
Bellator
MMA is coming home.
Two-time
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title challenger
Yoel
Romero is finally making his long-awaited Bellator debut as the
Cuban will face fellow UFC vet Phil Davis in
the main event of an upcoming Bellator event that will go down in
San Jose, California, on Sept. 18. The news was first reported by
Ariel Helwani before being confirmed in a press release issued by
Bellator Friday afternoon.
Romero (13-5, 0-0 Bellator) was supposed to take part in the light
heavyweight Grand Prix, where he was slated to fight Anthony
Johnson at Bellator 257 before the fight was rescheduled for
Bellator 258. However, an eye issue caused the “Soldier of God” to
fail his medicals and his spot in the tournament was taken by Jose
Augusto. Romero has been waiting to make his promotional debut
since December when he parted ways with the UFC with three fights
left on his deal. In his last fight under the UFC banner, he
dropped a decision to Israel
Adesanya in the 185-pound championship headliner at UFC
248.
Former 205-pound kingpin Davis (22-5-1NC, 9-3 Bellator) is
currently looking to bounce back following his recent defeat at the
hands of Vadim
Nemkov at Bellator 257. That night, he failed to recapture the
light heavyweight championship after the Russian outpointed him.
“Mr. Wonderful” earned a title shot following a trio of wins over
Liam
McGeary at Bellator 220, Karl
Albrektsson at Bellator 231 and Lyoto
Machida at Bellator 245.