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Yoel Romero will take on Phil Davis at Bellator 266 on September 18th, 2021.
After announcing his departure from the UFC as a free agent, Yoel Romero agreed to join Bellator MMA to compete in the organization's light heavyweight division.
'The Soldier of God' signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion. He was initially scheduled to fight fellow ex-UFC fighter Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson. However, the Cuban pulled out of the fight due to undisclosed reasons.
After a long lay-off, Yoel Romero will finally face Phil Davis on his Bellator debut. 'Mr. Wonderful' will ensure a tough welcome for Romero. Davis will look to bounce back from the loss in his last fight against Vadim Nemkov. The Russian is the current Bellator light heavyweight champion.
Yoel Romero's last fight was in March 2020. The Cuban came up short against Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 248. 'The Last Stylebender' out-pointed Romero to a unanimous decision victory. The 44-year-old was seemingly frustrated after struggling to deal with Adesanya's movement for over 25 minutes.
After a tiring five rounds, Romero said:
"We wanna fight! We wanna fight like the warriors, that's what we want to see here. The real warriors. Not like a running guy! No, no. The people want to see the real fight! The real [adrenaline]!...He running and running and running, that is not big champion...if you want to see running, go to see Usain Bolt!"
Watch his post-fight interview below:
Bellator's middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi called Yoel Romero 'a monster'; said a future super-fight may be a possibility
Reigning Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi recently spoke about Yoel Romero's arrival in the promotion. Speaking about a potential match-up against Yoel Romero in an interview, the Iranian-born Dutchman said:
“Who wants to fight Yoel Romero?! He’s a monster! But he’s in Bellator and if he makes middleweight, yeah, I’m gonna fight him. I’m a fighter, they give me a contract and I’ll fight him.”
Watch his full interview with MMA Junkie below:
