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Yoel Romero had Jon Jones, Mike Perry and more ringside for his TKO win at Dirty Boxing Championship.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag]’s third-round TKO win over [autotag]Ras Hylton[/autotag] at Dirty Boxing Championship 1 in Miami (Photos by Dirty Boxing Championship)
Yoel Romero had a tall task on his hands Saturday … literally.
[autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] had a tall task on his hands Saturday … literally.
Romero stopped [autotag]Ras Hylton[/autotag], all 6-foot-6-inches of him, with a TKO with 34 seconds left in the third round in the headliner of the first official Dirty Boxing Championship event, which took place in South Florida. The custom-rules boxing/MMA hybrid promotion was started by Mike Perry and now counts Jon Jones as a co-owner.
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Romero was patient in the first two three-minute rounds trying to figure out his much taller opponent – who rocks a reported size 23 shoe. But in the third, the 47-year-old Cuban touched Hylton up and put him away.
Check out Romero’s finish below (via Instagram):
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHhxcRDM-ms/
After he exited the UFC in 2020 off a title loss to Israel Adesanya, Romero signed with Bellator and went 3-2. He fought for DBX this past November in the promotion’s “pilot” event and scored a first-round finish of Duane Crespo.
You’ll have to forgive Yoel Romero’s lack of knowledge on mouse cartoon characters. Demetrious Johnson did lol.
[autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] certainly knows who [autotag]Demetrious Johnson[/autotag] is, but you’ll have to forgive his lack of knowledge on mouse cartoon characters. I’m just thankful it gave us one of the funniest unintentional jokes of the year in MMA.
Here’s why.
During an interview with Submission Radio, Romero was asked to name his four greatest UFC fighters of all time. Romero rattled off Jon Jones No. 1, Anderson Silva No. 2, and Georges St-Pierre No. 3 before taking a moment to think and included Johnson No. 4.
As pointed out on X, Romero hilariously flubbed his nickname:
Yoel Romero’s top 4 UFC fighters
1. Jon Jones
2. Anderson Silva
3. GSP
4. Minnie Mouse pic.twitter.com/OUsuJdSYtX— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) March 19, 2025
Of course, we all know DJ’s nickname is “Mighty Mouse” after the animated superhero, not Mickey’s sweetheart “Minnie Mouse.”
Me personally? I don’t think Romero meant “Minnie Mouse” but instead called him “Mini” Mouse, as in a small mouse. Which makes sense since Johnson is a flyweight. Honest mistake!
Johnson caught wind of Romero’s flub and gave us the perfect response a day later on X. Check it out:
Fucking Yoel
pic.twitter.com/wZfqTfyaIG
— Demetrious Johnson (@MightyMouse) March 20, 2025
Well played, champ.
Yoel Romero thinks Israel Adesanya needs to taper down in training if he wants to rebound.
[autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] needs to taper down in training if he wants to rebound.
Former UFC middleweight champion Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is on a three-fight losing skid after suffering a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in February.
Romero, who lost a decision to Adesanya in their 2020 title fight at UFC 248, wants to see “The Last Stylebender” take some time off before fighting again.
“Israel, he needed time, he needed rest,” Romero told Submission Radio. “That’s what I think. He needs to rest a little bit because too much damage. The problem is the UFC doesn’t give you time. When the UFC calls you, you need to come because you have a contract.
“Now, he needs to think about training – not too hard, not too hard in the sparring. He needs to go to training like a therapy, recovery for the body. He doesn’t need now too much sparring. That is my opinion for Israel. If he wants to be back again, he needs to recover the body. But he’s still training very hard. It’s not good.”
Adesanya did take almost a year off after his shocking upset loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023. However, Adesanya failed to reclaim his middleweight title when he was submitted by Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 last August. He then returned almost six months later to face Imavov, but fell short once again.
As for Romero, the 47-year-old is still trucking. “The Soldier of God” takes on Ras Hylton in Saturday’s DBX 1 main event at The Hangar at Regatta Harbour in Miami.
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“The Solider of God” will have a six-inch height disadvantage at Dirty Boxing 1.
“The Soldier of God” will have a six-inch height disadvantage in his next combat sports competition.
After a pilot event in November, Dirty Boxing will have a hard launch March 22 when it promotes DBX 1 at The Hangar at Regatta Harbour in Miami. The event will stream live and free on YouTube and various social media networks.
In the main event, former UFC title challenger [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] will take on hulking 6 feet 6 inches tall Maine-based heavyweight [autotag]Ras Hylton[/autotag] in front of a live audience.
Romero, 47, most recently competed at the pilot event in November when he defeated Power Slap competitor Duane Crespo by first-round knockout. The win was his second of 2024, also having defeated Thiago Santos by unanimous decision for PFL in February.
Hylton, 37, is a 10-8 professional MMA fighter who has competed for Bellator and PFL in years past. He hasn’t competed since September 2023, when he was knocked out for the second time in three fights.
The wait is over— DBX 1 is here! After a private showcase, we’re bringing the most intense combat sport to a LIVE audience for the first time!
Yoel Romero headlines in a brutal showdown against Hylton
March 22 | The Hangar at Regatta Harbour | Miami, FL
Streaming LIVE… pic.twitter.com/J8RnoS19gH
— Dirty Boxing Championship (@DirtyBoxing_) March 5, 2025
Dirty Boxing presents a hybrid rule set under which fighters compete in three three-minute rounds using four-ounce gloves inside a ring. Mainly a striking contest, ground-and-pound is allowed in the striker is standing on both feet.
The DBX 1 lineup currently includes:
UFC veteran Robelis Despaigne reacts to getting drafted by GFL’s Team Miami alongside with Cuban’s Yoel Romero and Hector Lombard.
MIAMI – GFL’s Miami team features a lot of Cuban power, and [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag] is over the moon that he forms part of it.
GFL, the newly launched team-based MMA promotion that’s expected to begin in April 2025, had its official draft this past Friday. The Miami team landed decorated veterans [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] and [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag].
Despaigne, a fellow Cuban, feels honored to share the team with his countrymen, who he’s long looked up to in MMA.
“I was very happy to be on the same team and on the same level with fighters such as Yoel Romero and Hector Lombard, who are legends of Cuba,” Despaigne told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “I can only imagine when we get to fight at an event, the three of us sharing and being together. That’s beautiful. ”
Despaigne entered the UFC in 2024 and won his debut with an 18-second KO. However, he lost his two subsequent fights by decision and was cut from the promotion before the year’s end. Since then, he’s competed twice under the Karate Combat banner and, as expected, has picked up two quick knockout victories.
Despaigne is enjoying this Karate Combat chapter of his career, and wants to take it even further. Yet, MMA is still his main goal.
“You always look to be on the biggest stages,” Despaigne said. “I do like a lot Karate Combat, and I want to win the title in Karate Combat, but the dream has always been to be in the UFC. I already accomplished that, but I want to return and fight MMA, and do reach everything possible that’s in reach.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/DFO701JxfGF/
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Check out the GFL Draft results and see which of the hottest free agents and MMA legends were selected to compete in the inaugural year.
It’s not every day there’s an MMA draft, but Friday there was
The 2025 GFL Draft took place virtually with a live stream on MMA Junkie. Six teams, each representing a major city, drafted from a pool of approximately 500 fighters, including big-name free agents and rising prospects.
One-hundred-twenty athletes were be selected across 10 weight classes (heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, women’s bantamweight, women’s strawweight, and women’s atomweight). However, the weight classes are divided slightly differently than the traditional weight classes. The promotion says it’s an effort to combat weight cutting.
Click here to see which fighters are eligible for the draft.
The six teams are managed and coached by MMA notables, as follows: Dubai (manager Cain Velasquez and coach Javier Mendez); London (manager Luke Barnatt and coach Carl Prince); Los Angeles (manager Wanderlei Silva and coach Rafael Cordeiro); Miami (manager Thiago Alves and coach Conan Silveira); New York (manager TBA and coach Ray Longo); and Sao Paulo (manager Lyoto Machida and coach Andre Pederneiras.
While a specific date has yet to be revealed, the promotion says it will launch in April with regular season, semi-finals, and finals events held throughout the year.
The 2025 GFL Draft results are as follows:
Team Dubai
Team Los Angeles
Team London
Team Miami
Team Sao Paulo
Team New York
The fledgling Global Fight League continued to get its business in order Thursday.
The fledgling Global Fight League continued to get its business in order Thursday with several important announcements.
Last month, the GFL, headed by co-founder Darren Owen, announced plans for its official launch this year, with the concept of team-based mixed martial arts at the forefront.
The GFL will feature six teams from six cities competing in a league format that includes playoffs. As part of its initial announcement, the GFL said it had signed a plethora of big-name fighters – chalk full of former UFC champions and legends of the sport – ahead of a scheduled Jan. 24 draft date. The GFL hopes to put on its first event in April.
On Thursday, the promotion announced new draft entrees, team locations, as well as team managers and coaches.
The GFL confirmed that [autotag]Renan Barao[/autotag], [autotag]Todd Duffee[/autotag], [autotag]Douglas Lima[/autotag], [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag], [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag], [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag], and [autotag]Ovince Saint Preux[/autotag] will enter the draft.
The GFL’s announcement also teased that “additional athletes will be revealed in the days leading up to the draft.”
Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Sao Paulo will serve as the homebase for the GFL’s six teams.
The coaches and managers for the six GFL teams will be as follows:
From Mike Perry singing with Yoel Romero to Jon Jones overseeing $25,000 Roshambo bets, a lot was going on between knockouts in Florida.
[autotag]Jon Jone[/autotag]s, [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag] and [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] walk into a bar…
OK, so they didn’t walk into a bar, but while you’re imagining the wild scenarios that hypothetical situation would produce, those three unique personalities popularized in MMA were all present for the inaugural Dirty Boxing Championship at an “undisclosed location” in Florida.
Perry’s new fight promotion brings a unique set of boxing rules that allows for MMA elements such as ground-and-pound and elbows. The fights produced a number of wild finishes, including Romero’s devastating knockout in the main event.
Perhaps more interesting than what happened inside the custom Dirty Boxing Championship ring, is what went down behind the scenes. The private event’s guest list featured a number of familiar faces, including UFC heavyweight champ Jones, Paige VanZant, and many others.
In a behind-the-scenes video of the event, Perry was seen singing Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” with Romero, Jones oversaw a $25,000 Roshambo battle, and of course, video of the knockouts inside the ring along with the aftermath of the winning and losing sides.
Check out the video above.
Check out the best photos from Yoel Romero’s brutal knockout of Duane Crespo at Dirty Boxing Championship.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag]’s first-round knockout over [autotag]Duane Crespo[/autotag] at Dirty Boxing Championship in Miami. (Photos courtesy of Dirty Boxing Championship)
