Though he was on a three-bout losing streak, Yoel Romero
didn’t expect to receive his walking papers from the Ultimate
Fighting Championship.
In a recent interview with
ESPN, Romero said his release from the Las Vegas-based
promotion was “completely unexpected.” The Olympic Silver medalist
was coming off decision loss to Israel
Adesanya in a title bout at UFC 248, a matchup that came at the
request of the middleweight champion.
“The Soldier of God” was looking forward to facing another
highly-ranked opponent in the Octagon — either at middleweight or
light heavyweight — in hopes making of another run at championship
gold. However, the UFC offered opponents that Romero felt did not
fit his plan.
“I was already in training, very hard, getting ready,” Romero said. “We were already thinking about fighting in January, or February,
in 185 [pounds] or 205. We were looking to fight with the top three
in either division.
“My managers explained this to the top of the UFC. [The UFC] wanted
[me] to fight with Uriah Hall,
Derek
Brunson. We explained that it didn’t make sense for [me] to
fight with these young men. We had an idea we were chasing the
world title. The way we were training, we knew we had one or two
fights and then go for the belt. Our thought was fighting any of
these guys in the back of the roster was taking steps backwards,
not forwards.”
The 43-year-old Romero had lost four of his last five bouts
overall, but they had all come against top-flight competition:
Adesanya, Paulo Costa
and Robert
Whittaker (twice). It could be argued that Romero deserved the
nod from the judges in at least a couple of those fights, as
well.
Nonetheless, Romero’s release was announced on Dec. 4, and UFC
president Dana White indicated it was just one of many cuts the
promotion will make in the coming weeks.
Romero revealed that talks for fighting at 205 pounds in the
Octagon were not productive, either.
“They came back with an offer for us to fight Johnny
Walker at 205,” Romero said. “My managers initially were saying
who we wanted: Dominick
Reyes, Glover [Teixiera], [Thiago] Santos and Anthony
Smith. And it was back and forth, kind of quiet on their end,
and once they reached back, it was we couldn’t come to an agreement
and they were going to commit to the release.”
Now, Romero joins a Bellator roster that also includes recent
signee Anthony
Johnson, another UFC veteran known for knockout power. The
American Top Team product says it’s very likely that “Rumble” could
end up being his first opponent in Bellator.
“At 205, Bellator has a huge amount of incredible athletes,” Romero
said. “There’s a lot of prospects. There’s a lot of opportunities.
To throw a name out there right now is pure speculation. There’s a
lot of things going on behind the scenes that I’m not supposed to
speak about, that I can’t say yet.
“But, there’s a huge possibility, a 90 percent chance, that he’ll
[Johnson] be the first one to face Yoel
Romero.”