One of the most freakish MMA athletes ever, Yoel “The Soldier of God” Romero is set to make his Bellator debut against Phil Davis. Romero is already 44 years old, but his athleticism and explosiveness still defy logic. Not only that, but he has never been knocked out in his UFC run.
Romero was initially scheduled to fight on the Bellator Light-heavyweight Grand Prix but was forced to withdraw after not passing the medical test. Some reports were indicating it was due to Romero’s injured eye. It was his war against Robert Whittaker that he suffered an orbital injury, it may have possibly not fully healed since then.
His original Bellator debut was supposedly against Anthony Johnson, many fans were excited for that match-up as both are known for being explosive. Johnson was also a former UFC title challenger that also fought for the title more than once but always fell short.
If Romero had Whittaker as his rival that was always in the way of him becoming a champion, it was Cormier that stopped Johnson from getting the elusive title. It would have been a great showcase.
As for his rebooked fight, he is will be facing former light-heavyweight Bellator Champion, Phil Davis who is also a former UFC contender. Davis may not have fought for the UFC title but he has beaten the top guys like Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and Lyoto Machida. He is coming off a loss against current LHW Champion Vadim Nemkov.
The fight will be the main event for Bellator 266, it may not involve a title or even a Grand Prix but Romero is still a household name. He was coming off a back-to-back loss against Whittaker and Costa and yet the UFC granted him a title shot, that just shows how dangerous a fighter Romero is. Outside of the Adesanya loss, he pretty much had fireworks fights.
Romero is still dangerous and even Cormier said might be one of the most accomplished wrestlers that ever graced the Octagon and that speaks highly since Cormier was a former Olympian in wrestling.
He also started his MMA career at Light-heavyweight before deciding to move down and compete at the middleweight. It will be interesting how well will Romero perform with less weight to cut. He has shown in the past to miss weight, especially in his title shot fights.
