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Yoel Romero skipped the Bellator 297 face-off with his opponent Vadim Nemkov at Chicago Willis Tower Building. This led the promotion to get innovative and arrange a virtual screen for Romero to be present in the press conference.
While a number of main event fighters have skipped press conference appearances before for a multitude of reasons, Romero's decision to attend the event virtually had to do with the location of the event itself.
According to the press conference host, Chael Sonnen, the former UFC middleweight didn't attend the event because of his fear of heights. The face-off was being held on the 99th floor of the building.
"Turns out he's not scared of much, can we agree on that? Do you guys know why he's not here today? Oh, I hope you guys know... Turns out he's scared of heights... He was scared to come to the press conference when he found out what floor it's on, and quite frankly, I really don't blame him. Guys, we're up here pretty high, aren't we?"
Watch Chael Sonnen's comments on Yoel Romero's absence from the press conference below:
Interestingly, with Sonnen's explanation for Romero's absence going viral, Bellator took to their official Twitter handle to further back 'The American Gangster's' statement during the press conference.
Check out the tweet below:
Bellator 297 packs an impressive main card
While Yoel Romero and Vadim Nemkov are set to headline Bellator 297, there are a number of exciting additional bouts fans can look forward to. These include Sergio Pettis vs. Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire, Corey Anderson vs. Phil Davis, and Daniel James vs. Gokhan Saricam.
Besides Yoel Romero's pursuit of light heavyweight gold in the event, 'Pitbull's' bout against Sergio Pettis is worth watching out for. 'Pitbull', if victorious, will cement himself as one of the most decorated MMA fighters in the history of the sport.
Discussing the same in a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Henry Cejudo had this to say:
"I truly do believe @PatricioPitbull has a claim to GOAT Mountain with a win against Sergio Pettis on Friday at Bellator 297. 1st 3-Division champ in MMA history would be a special accomplishment"
