Yoel Romero News

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

After the UFC attempted once again to set up Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa, it fell through and now Romero wants to face Anderson “The Spider” Silva. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC was planning to book Romero vs Costa as the main event of the UFC’s first event on ESPN+ which will take place on January 19 in Brooklyn, New York.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2018

Over the weekend, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold announced that he’d like to fight long-time middleweight contender Yoel Romero again in the future — at light heavyweight.  To remind, Rockhold and Romero fought earlier this year. In this first meeting, Romero won by knockout. Unfortunately, Romero missed weight for this bout, which made it a tough defeat for Rockhold to swallow.

James Lynch - October 14, 2018

Luke Rockhold needs to take care of business on Nov. 3 in his rematch against Chris Weidman at UFC 230, but he already has his sights set on another former foe. Rockhold told TMZ Sports that he’s open to a rematch against Yoel Romero, the man who defeated him back February at UFC 222 by third-round knockout.

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2018

That UFC 230 main event we’ve been waiting for? Apparently, it’s in the works, and it’s an undeniably surprising one. According to a report from Ariel Helwani, the UFC is looking at booking a light heavyweight showdown between Alexander Gustafsson and Yoel Romero for the card. If the fight is indeed booked, it will reportedly be for a title, though it’s not certain whether the pair would be fighting for an interim or undisputed title.

Tom Taylor - July 24, 2018

UFC 230, which goes down on November 3 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden, has grown by one absolutely dynamite matchup, as former UFC middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero is set to collide with surging knockout artist Paulo Costa. This bout was announced by the UFC on Tuesday afternoon.

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2018

Yoel Romero and Daniel Cormier’s war of words continues. The latest skirmish in this ongoing saga occurred on Friday afternoon, when Romero took another dig at Cormier — and American Kickboxing Academy — on Twitter.

Drake Riggs - July 12, 2018

Whether or not the new two-division champion of the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, Daniel Cormier is actually wanting to set up a fight with Yoel Romero…he sure is by continuing the back and forth with the top-ranked middleweight. After Romero’s announcement through his manager, Malki Kawa that he will be looking to jump up in weight classes following his second loss to middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, the Cuban targetted the 205-pound king.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

Earlier this week, on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Yoel Romero’s manager Malki Kawa confirmed that, after a pair of weight-cutting blunders, the long-time middleweight contender plans to move to light heavyweight. The hope, Kawa said, was for Romero to meet Daniel Cormier in a light heavyweight title fight in his first fight back in the division. “So we are talking to UFC about him moving up to light heavyweight,” Kawa said. “And I think what we’re going to propose to them — well to be honest they offered us the Gustafsson fight and we accepted it. But Gustafsson needed to fight in August and Yoel wanted to fight later because he has to have surgery, he broke his orbital. So there are talks for him to fight at light heavyweight.”

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

After missing weight for two consecutive middleweight fights — an interim title fight with Luke Rockhold and an undisputed title fight with Robert Whittaker — Yoel Romero is most likely headed up to the 205-pound light heavyweight division. Romero’s manager Malki Kawa confirmed this plan on Monday’s episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA show on ESPN. Apparently, the plan was originally for Romero to fight Swedish light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson, but the pair’s scheduling didn’t line up. With that plan off the table, the new hope is for Romero to battle Daniel Cormier for light heavyweight gold.

Tom Taylor - July 4, 2018

Yoel Romero has dazzled fans in his first two bouts of 2018, first clubbing former champ Luke Rockhold into unconsciousness in February, then engaging current champ Robert Whittaker in one of the year’s best fights in June. Unfortunately, both of Romero’s 2018 bouts have been served with a side of controversy, as he failed to make weight on both occasions. It’s for this reason that surging middleweight contender Israel Adesanya has found it hard to root for him. In Adesanya’s eyes, Romero’s repeated failure to make weight is encroaching on cheating.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker felt that Yoel Romero changed quite significantly between their first and second fights. According to Whittaker, Romero felt more or less normal when they first fought, and more like “metal” or “concrete” when they met for a second time at UFC 225 earlier this month. “When I was punching and kicking him [at UFC 225] he felt like metal — like a dude made out of concrete, it was a ridiculous,” Whittaker said on Grange TV.  “I fought him a year ago, and he didn’t feel like concrete. Not like that.”

Drake Riggs - June 21, 2018

Earlier this month, we were treated to an instant classic in the middleweight division as Robert Whittaker made his first title defense in a rematch against Yoel Romero. The fight was a war throughout the whole five rounds, but apparently it could have came to a stop earlier than that had Romero not made some adjustments. Whittaker would win the very close battle via split decision. The fight didn’t officially count as a title defense either as Romero missed weight heading into the clash.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker now holds two wins over fearsome middleweight contender Yoel Romero. Both, however, were competitive and truly thrilling fights. Given the close nature of the pair’s two fights — particularly the latter, which headlined UFC 225 last weekend — there’s been widespread chatter about a potential third fight between the two. Whittaker, however, isn’t so sure a third fight is necessary. The Australian champion addressed a potential trilogy fight with Romero on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - June 11, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of the stacked UFC 225, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and fearsome middleweight contender Yoel Romero engaged in a truly incredible five-round fight. Though the title was not actually on the line, as Romero missed weight for the bout, the two middleweight talents fought with the kind of verve and intensity that ensured their battle will never be forgotten. In the end, Whittaker won this jaw-dropping fight via split decision. While not everybody agreed with the judges’ scoring of the fight, Whittaker is confident he deserved the W. The champ commented on the fight in a classy, post-fight statement on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - June 10, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC 225, Yoel Romero gave up a competitive — and somewhat controversial — split decision to reigning UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. With this result, Romero falls to 0-2 against the current champ, which represents a tough situation for any contender. Romero’s situation looks even more uncertain when you consider the fact that he has now missed the 185-pound limit for middleweight title fights on two separate occasions. When it comes to options for the 41-year-old Cuban’s next fight, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has one of the more interesting ideas. He thinks Romero should head north to the light heavyweight division, where he’ll have to endure a less taxing cut, to battle long-time contender Alexander Gustafsson to establish a true light heavyweight champion in the division. This is a particularly interesting idea given that Cormier is currently tied up with a looming heavyweight title shot opposite Stipe Miocic, which leaves Gustafsson without a worthy adversary.

Tom Taylor - June 10, 2018

Last night, in the main event of the stacked UFC 225, middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and top middleweight contender Yoel Romero met for a second time — though Romero was not eligible to win the title due to a slight weigh-in miss. The pair’s main event showdown would go down as one of the very best fights of the year, complete with several near-stoppages, and some truly incredible momentum shifts. In the end, Whittaker would win this bout with a somewhat controversial split decision, moving to 2-0 over the fearsome Cuban in the process. That being said, there are really no losers in a war of this kind, which truly riveted the MMA community from beginning to end.

Drake Riggs - June 8, 2018

In today’s MMA world, the excitement or…disappointment often starts with the weigh-ins. And today was no different. Initially, one half of the main event’s title fight rematch, Yoel Romero weighed in at 186 pounds which is one pound over the 185 pound middleweight limit for championship fights.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2018

After tipping the scales at 186 pounds — one pound above the limit for middleweight title fights — Yoel Romero was given an additional two hours to attempt to shed that final pound. Apparently, however, his efforts to lose the final pound were cut short by a commission executive, and his team doesn’t know why. This is particularly interesting information, as Romero ultimately came in 0.2 pounds above the 185-pound limit as a result. Ariel Helwani explained the situation on Twitter: