Tag: Yoel Romero

Yoel Romero: Israel Adesanya needed ‘more time to recover’ before fighting Sean Strickland

Yoel Romero thinks Israel Adesanya’s activity caught up to him, and it showed in his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

[autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s activity likely cost him against Sean Strickland.

Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost his middleweight belt in an upset unanimous decision loss to Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) last month at UFC 293. Prior to the defeat, Adesanya was coming off back-to-back title fights against Alex Pereira. Adesanya lost to Pereira by knockout at UFC 281 last November but later avenged his loss with a knockout of his own at UFC 287 in April.

Romero, who lost a lackluster decision to Adesanya in March 2020 at UFC 248, thinks the damage accumulated in both fights against Pereira factored into Adesanya’s performance against Strickland.

“What I think is right now, when you have a fight and you take the damage, like Alex make against Izzy, now Izzy has a little problem, not too much,” Romero said on the Overdogs Podcast. “That’s what I’m thinking. Now he’s scared a little bit because he needs more time to recover. When you take a lot of punches in one fight, you lose – no excuses. Maybe if he had more time to recover, the fight would be different. Believe me … when he lost to Alex, he took a lot of punches.”

Adesanya has been very active throughout his career, with his three title fights against Pereira and Strickland coming in less than a calendar year. Romero would like to see Adesanya get a rematch with Strickland, but not right away.

“If he’s (Du Plessis) good, that’s the guy he needs to fight,” Romero said of Strickland’s next opponent. “After this, ‘Killa Gorilla’ (Cannonier) and after this, the rematch with Izzy.”

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John McCarthy responds to Tim Kennedy’s claim his UFC 178 loss to Yoel Romero was a ‘robbery’ that ended his career

Tim Kennedy reflected on the anniversary of his loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 178 – a “robbery” he claims ended his career.

[autotag]Tim Kennedy[/autotag] reflected on the anniversary of his fight vs. [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] at UFC 178 – a fight he claims ended his career.

Kennedy lost to Romero in their middleweight bout in 2014 by third-round TKO just 58 seconds into the frame, but it didn’t come without controversy. Their barnburner earned Fight of the Night honors.

At the end of Round 2, a visibly tired Romero appeared to receive extra time on his stool before the start of Round 3, where the cutman applied an excess amount of vaseline to the cut over his left eyebrow. That prompted referee John McCarthy to call a cornerman back in to remove the big glob of vaseline. Kennedy was irate at the delay, but Romero and his corner were not reprimanded for it.

Thursday marked the nine-year anniversary of that fight, and Kennedy took aim at McCarthy, accusing him of mismanaging the situation.

“Robbery anniversary and the end of my fight career. Dear Nevada Athletic Commission. NAC 467.728 If a combatant fails or refuses to resume competing when the bell sounds…the referee shall award a decision of TKO.”

McCarthy responded, explaining what went down in between rounds.

“Tim you are an amazing person and I truly wish the very best life has to offer both you and your family. Perhaps I could of done something differently during your fight. I wish I had the forethought to envision this exact situation before it ever occurred and that way I may have handled it differently. But you are not stating facts about what occurred. Yoel was told to stay seated by the NSAC Inspector. The truth is the Cutman hired and paid for by the UFC did not re-enter the cage when summoned to do so and that is what held up the start of the 3rd round. It is not Yoel’s fault that this occurred and the Cutman is not part of Yoel’s official corner. Language barriers did not help as well. It’s egregious to penalize a person when they are not at fault and that is why there were no point deductions nor DQ. Was it completely fair to you? No I don’t believe it was, but there are times when there is no perfect solution in the moment. I hope the very best for you in all that you do.”

The loss to Romero snapped Kennedy’s four-fight winning streak. Kennedy lost to Kelvin Gastelum by TKO more than two years later and retired after the fight. He is at peace with that marking the near end of his career, but not how the Romero fight went down.

“I’m super happy I’m done fighting and this fight brought in the end. So thank you for that. You failed to mange control of what was happening in the cage. The entire Yoel team played you like a fiddle and got what they wanted… more time to recover.”

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Ray Longo: Aljamain Sterling could’ve made Sean O’Malley fight like Adesanya vs. Romero but didn’t want to

Ray Longo says Aljamain Sterling wanted to put on a crowd-pleasing performance at UFC 292.

Ray Longo says [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] wanted to put on a crowd-pleasing performance at UFC 292.

Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) lost his bantamweight title to [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) by second-round TKO in this past Saturday’s main event at TD Garden in Boston.

Longo praised O’Malley for perfectly timing the right hand, but thinks the fight was going Sterling’s way until the stoppage. Longo also revealed that Sterling feared that his fight with O’Malley could resemble [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s lackluster title defense against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] at UFC 248, which could have thrown him off.

“The guy is good,” Longo said on the Anik & Florian Podcast. “He’s a great striker – there’s no question about it. Look, all three judges gave Aljo the first round, and I think deservingly so. But in between rounds, I really told Aljo, ‘Let’s go kick heavy. Let’s offset his punches. What I was looking at in the first round was a guy that didn’t want to commit. I think he was afraid of the takedown, and we knew that was going to happen, but I wasn’t really sure. I think O’Malley expected Aljo to do in the first round what he did in the second round.

“Aljo’s point was he could have made it like an Adesanya vs. Romero fight, but it would have been so displeasing to the crowd – which I’m surprised, because normally he doesn’t talk like he gives a sh*t about the crowd. The burden would have been on Sean. He would have been down two rounds if Aljo just does the same thing as in the first round. I don’t think he was making a move. Now I think it’s because he was waiting for Aljo to shoot in, but then somebody said he did have a bad rib. Maybe that played into it, too, that he was just going to keep his distance. But motherf*cker was accurate. He hit a beautiful counter.”

Sterling was initially against making a quick turnaround after defending his belt against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 in May, but eventually succumbed to it. Longo says the UFC ended up getting their wish.

“It is what it is, but he did make the walk after three months,” Longo said. “He 100 percent didn’t want to do it a couple of months ago, but once he committed, he had a good camp. There’s absolutely no excuses. The UFC wanted what they wanted and they got what they wanted for sure.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.

Bellator 297 post-event facts: Vadim Nemkov achieves rare feat in dominant title defense

Check out all the facts from Bellator 297, where Vadim Nemkov took another step toward arguably the greatest resume in Bellator history.

Bellator’s lone event of the month went down Friday with Bellator 297 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and it was arguably the promotion’s biggest show of the year thus far.

Two championship bouts topped the card, and both men who entered the cage with belts, lefts with them, too. [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) handily defeated [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) by unanimous decision in the headliner to retain the light heavyweight strap, while [autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] (23-5 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) kept hold of bantamweight gold with a unanimous decision over [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (35-6 MMA, 22-6 BMMA).

For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 297.

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Vadim Nemkov def. Yoel Romero at Bellator 297: Best photos

Check out these photos highlighting Vadim Nemkov’s light heavyweight title defense over Yoel Romero at Bellator 297 at Wintrust Arena.

Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag]’s light heavyweight title defense over [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] at Bellator 297 at Wintrust Arena. (Photos courtesy of Bellator MMA/Lucas Noonan)

Twitter reacts to Vadim Nemkov’s lopsided title defense over Yoel Romero at Bellator 297

The MMA community recognized the skill of Vadim Nemkov after a dominant display of Yoel Romero in the Bellator 297h headliner

[autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] continued his unblemished run in Bellator on Friday when he registered a title defense against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] in the Bellator 297 headliner.

Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) earned a third defense of the light heavyweight strap with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Romero (15-7 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) in the main event at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Nemkov’s title defense over Romero at Bellator 297.

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Bellator 297 results: Vadim Nemkov dominates inactive Yoel Romero to defend title

Vadim Nemkov showed 46-year-old Yoel Romero had no place challenging for his title with a dominant effort in the Bellator 297 main event

CHICAGO – [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] showed 46-year-old [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] had no place challenging for his title with a dominant effort in the Bellator 297 main event.

Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) delivered a five-round display of striking excellence against the former UFC title challenger Romero (15-7 MMA, 2-2 BMMA), who had almost nothing to offer over the course of five rounds at Wintrust Arena. In the end, the Russian champion was awarded a lopsided unanimous decision by scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 49-46.

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Nemkov started the fight strong, coming up with a high volume attacking consisting of punch and kick combinations. The pressure put Romero into a defensive shell, where he remained for essentially the entirety of the round as Nemkov racked up points.

The champion kept the pressure up into the second round. Nemkov kept Romero guessing with his striking attacks, and Romero barely threw anything back, as he was outstruck at a nearly 8-to-1 rate through 10 minutes.

Nemkov was fully in rhythm going into the third round, where Romero is known to be at his most dangerous. The beatdown only got more ferocious, though, as Nemkov unleashed beautiful punching and kicking attacks that forced Romero to the point of trying to play rope-a-dope to get back in it. However, Nemkov wasn’t having any of it.

As the fight hit the championship rounds, Nemkov was firmly in control of the action. He battered Romero for nearly the whole fourth round, but “The Soldier of God” did show a few signs in life in springing forward with his signature lunging attacks – including a clean Superman punch – but Nemkov absorbed it all without issue.

It was more of the same from Nemkov in the final round, as he picked Romero apart and avoided taking a desperation shot from the Cuban on the feet. Romero got a late takedown, but he couldn’t threat with a finish and Nemkov was able to coast to the final bell and keep his title reign in tact.

With the win, Nemkov continues his run of success under the Bellator banner, becomes the fourth fighter in company history to go undefeated in their first 10 fights with the promotion. A.J. McKee, Michael Page and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane were the others.

The up-to-the-minute Bellator 297 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.

Bellator 297: Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero odds, picks and predictions

Analyzing Friday’s Bellator 297 odds and lines between Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero with MMA picks, tips and predictions.

In a light heavyweight championship bout in the main event, Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero meet Friday at Bellator 297 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the Bellator 297: Nemkov vs. Romero odds, and make our expert picks and predictions.

The prelims are on live streaming on Bellator’s YouTube channel at 6 p.m. ET, with the main card on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET.

Nemkov looks to defend his strap against the former UFC fighter. He is coming off a majority-decision victory against Corey Anderson at Bellator 288 in November after a no contest against Anderson at Bellator 287 in their first meeting in April 2022.

Since topping Ryan Bader at Bellator 244 on Aug. 21, 2020, Nemkov has successfully defended his title 3 times with the no contest. The 2 other defenses were a 4th-round submission win over Julius Anglickas at Bellator 268 (Oct. 2021) and a unanimous-decision victory over Phil Davis at Bellator 257 (April 2016).

Romero makes his 4th Bellator appearance since losing in a UFC title bout against Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 in March 2020. The Cuban fighter’s Bellator debut was not great, as he lost by split-decision against Phil Davis. He has bounced back with a pair of 3rd-round KO/TKO wins over Alex Polizzi (May 2022) and Melvin Manhoef (Sept. 2022) to position himself for a title shot.

Bellator 297: Nemkov vs. Romero odds

Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 6:56 a.m. ET.

  • Fight result (2-way line): Nemkov -500 (bet $500 to win $100) | Romero +365 (bet $100 to win $365)

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Bellator 297: Nemkov vs. Romero picks and predictions

Records: Nemkov (16-2-0) | Romero (15-6-0)

Fight result (2-way line or moneyline)

ROMERO (+365) is a giant underdog and a tremendous value. You can multiply your initial wager by more than 3 1/2 times playing the former UFC champ.

The 2-time Olympic wrestling champion from Cuba has a knockout of Luke Rockhold under his belt to win the light heavyweight strap at UFC 221. He narrowly lost by unanimous decision to Adesanya, one of the best to ever do it, in his UFC swan song.

While Romero didn’t start out great in Bellator, falling to Phil Davis by split-decision, he has bounced back with a pair of KO/TKO wins, showing off his signature punching power.

Romero can not only brawl toe-to-toe, but he is strong on the mat if he needs to go there. However, he’ll likely look to keep this one upright as much as possible as Nemkov also showed off his ground game abilities when he submitted Anglickas in one of his defense fights. The current champ is 3-0 via submission in 18 career pro bouts. Romero won’t want to go to the canvas, but instead will likely opt for a brawl instead.

Nemkov won’t go quietly into the night, but the time is now for Romero to ascend to the top of the division, and he is a solid value to do so.

Visit MMA Junkie for more fight news and analysis.

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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.

Follow Kevin J. Erickson on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and us on Facebook.

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Alex Polizzi details road from gnarly double-broken jaw against Yoel Romero to Bellator 297 return

Yoel Romero packs a punch as Alex Polizzi found out when they fought each other in Bellator.

CHICAGO – Many MMA fighters don’t have it easy, but [autotag]Alex Polizzi[/autotag] had next-level misfortune when he stepped into the cage against [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] in 2022.

Polizzi (10-2 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) has not competed in 13 months, but Friday steps back in the cage at Bellator 297 against Karl Moore (11-2 MMA, 3-0 BMMA). The past year for Polizzi has been filled with adversity and change. He suffered a badly-broken jaw against Romero, but learned many lessons in recovery.

“I was laid off for a little bit with six months of no contact with a broken jaw,” Polizzi told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Thursday. “We really took a step back to the drawing board and worked a lot of pad work, mitt work. But also a little bit earlier when I was unable to really work out at all, I made sure to get what was going on in my head right.

“I saw a mental performance coach who was able to go through some techniques about how to not only get ready, get my mind right to get back into things, but tools going forward to work on the mental side of things, as well. I think that’s been really super important and something that I hadn’t really put a lot of time into before… something that before this injury, this broken jaw that I think wouldn’t have done before.”

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In addition to the injury and mental improvement, Polizzi added more seasoning to his game. He switched gyms and moved across the country from Wisconsin to Nevada. Polizzi now trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

“There was a life-changing event,” Polizzi said. “My wife finished school and we were looking at new places to go. We had a couple different ideas about cities to travel to. On the list was Las Vegas and she said, ‘Hey Alex, how was Las Vegas for MMA?’ We said, ‘Yeah, I could probably make that one work.’ We made the move to Vegas and of course, if you’re in Vegas there’s really just the one gym option. It’s Xtreme and that’s where you’re going to get good work in with everybody.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.

Yoel Romero says ‘no chance’ he’ll retire at Bellator 297, plans to fight into his 50s

At 46, Yoel Romero is confident he’s got plenty left in the tank beyond Bellator 297, enough to fight into his 50s.

Despite being one of the more senior fighters today, [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] doesn’t plan to retire any time soon.

At 46, most active MMA are retired or way past their primes. However, that’s not the case for Romero – far from it. The highly decorated Cuban wrestler is just hours away from one of the biggest fights of his career, a light heavyweight title bout against highly touted champion Vadim Nemkov.

The fight serves as the Bellator 297 main event Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

As often seen in sports, seasoned athletes take the opportunity of achieving something big to walk away while on top. That was recently displayed by Amanda Nunes after she retired as a two-division UFC champion this past Saturday at UFC 289.

Romero respects that path, but he assures fans will see more of him, even if he claims Bellator gold.

“No chance, no chance,” Romero told MMA Junkie in Spanish when asked about potentially walking away as champion. “No chance, no chance at all. That doesn’t even go through my mind. I’ve got five more years in this sport. That’s what I think of. I plan on fighting until I’m 52. That’s my focus.”

Romero has told MMA Junkie in the past that he’d like to walk away at 52 just like Bernard Hopkins did in boxing, and that plan still stands.

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This title fight for Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) is, in many ways, a story of redemption. “The Soldier of God” might just be the fighter who got closest to being champion in the UFC without winning the belt.

Romero fought four times for UFC titles. Three times he lost in competitive, even controversial, decisions to Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. The other, which was for the interim UFC middleweight belt, he actually won by knocking out Luke Rockhold, but he was ineligible to win the belt since he has missed weight by two pounds.

This fight with Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) is very important to Romero, who still dreams of championship status.

“I think it would be something very satisfactory for my team, for me, being able to win a championship belt,” Romero said. “It always is satisfactory to be able to take a belt home, knowing that you worked hard. Also, knowing the persistence, the dedication to training was well worth it. It also lets you know that if the work that you did led to you winning, then that’s the path that you need to continue on. You need to stay on that path and keep working. That’s what it would mean.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.