Why does Yoel Romero squander title shots?

At a glance, Yoel Romero seems to possess every conceivable tool that a fighter could want to capture championship gold and reach the peak of mixed martial arts glory. 'The Soldier of God' is a genetic freak with an absurd depth of hyper-athleticism and high-level wrestling skills.

The Cuban phenom has a granite chin, having only ever been knocked out once across 22 fights. He is tremendously strong, strikes with nuclear heat with every single limb, and is fairly quick and insanely explosive. More than that, however, Romero is an Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling.

With more athleticism than anyone could ever hope to have while possessing the wrestling skill to dictate where a bout will take place and the earth-shattering knockout power to end a fight at a moment's notice, 'The Soldier of God' should have captured a world title by now.

Yet, this is not the case. Something always happens to derail Yoel Romero's plans, as was the case during his recent, failed title fight against Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 297. But why is that so?

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Yoel Romero and his failures on the scale

Yoel Romero has taken part in five world title fights across his career as a mixed martial artist. Four of those opportunities were under the UFC banner, while his most recent one was for Bellator MMA. Unfortunately, the Cuban sensation was ultimately ineligible to compete for the title on two of those occasions.

The reason he was disqualified from capturing two titles he was originally scheduled to compete for was due to twice failing to make weight. There is no leniency for championship fights. Thus, middleweight title bouts in the UFC require competitors to be on the dot of the 185-pound limit and not a decimal higher.

After failing to defeat Robert Whittaker for the UFC interim middleweight championship at UFC 213, 'The Soldier of God' stepped in as a late replacement for 'The Reaper' at UFC 221. The Australian was initially scheduled to face Luke Rockhold for divisional gold.

He was promoted from interim champion to undisputed king after then-middleweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre vacated his championship. Unfortunately, 'The Reaper' withdrew from his bout with Rockhold, citing injury. Thus, Romero took his place as a short-notice replacement.

However, the Cuban phenom missed weight. Instead of 185 pounds, he stepped on the scale at 187.7 pounds, disqualifying him from claiming the title, even if he defeated Rockhold, which he did via brutal third-round KO. The win set him up for an undisputed title fight against Robert Whittaker.

Romero's fortunes, however, didn't change. He again missed weight on the scale, rendering himself ineligible to capture the title in the event of a win, as he was 185.2 pounds, not 185 pounds. Despite many scoring the bout in his favor, he lost on the judges' scorecards and wouldn't have won the divisional strap regardless.

Thus, two of his title opportunities were squandered due to weight-cut struggles. But what of his other title shots?

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Yoel Romero's fighting style is his own worst enemy

While Yoel Romero is known for flattening his opponents with devastating flying knees and absurd knockouts, he is equally known for being a low-volume fighter who waits for openings, even to his own detriment. Despite his high-level wrestling skills, 'The Soldier of God' doesn't wrestle consistently in the cage.

Few fighters can claim to have outwrestled Chris Weidman in MMA, yet Yoel Romero did just that at UFC 205 before flatlining the All-American with a flying knee. But strangely, he rarely dips into his wrestling skill set. The reason why appears to be due to his fear of gassing out, which is understandable.

His first-ever title fight with Robert Whittaker saw him pursue takedowns more aggressively than he ever has. However, he tired greatly in that fight. Since that loss, 'The Soldier of God' underwent a transformation into an extremely low-volume counterpuncher.

Yoel Romero spends the majority of his bouts now doing little, barring a few feints and bizarre movements to potentially draw his opponents in. All the while, he moves slowly with little energy committed to anything he does. In short, he sets a specific rhythm to dupe his opponents into thinking he's slow and lethargic.

Then, when his foes least expect it, he suddenly breaks that preset rhythm with a much faster, explosive KO blow once he spots an opening. The opening comes from his opponents reacting in accordance with what they think is the true speed of his movements, only for him to shock them with his explosions.

Unfortunately, for Yoel Romero, this doesn't always work. If his opponent gives him no openings, he shows no urgency. This causes him to lose fights simply for not doing enough. This was the case against Israel Adesanya and later Vadim Nemkov. It is the same issue that plagued Tyron Woodley.

The two men are both explosive counterpunchers with a strong wrestling base, and great athleticism, but almost no tools to draw opponents into their strikes. Given that Romero is now 46 and was awarded a title shot after only a two-fight win streak, but performed so poorly, he is unlikely to fight for a world title ever again.