New Bellator Signee Yoel Romero Caught Off Guard by UFC Release

Though he was on a three-bout losing streak, Yoel Romero didn’t expect to receive his walking papers from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Romero said his release from the Las Vegas-based promotion was “completely unexpected.” The Olympic Silver medalist was coming off decision loss to Israel Adesanya in a title bout at UFC 248, a matchup that came at the request of the middleweight champion.

“The Soldier of God” was looking forward to facing another highly-ranked opponent in the Octagon — either at middleweight or light heavyweight — in hopes making of another run at championship gold. However, the UFC offered opponents that Romero felt did not fit his plan.

"I was already in training, very hard, getting ready," Romero said. "We were already thinking about fighting in January, or February, in 185 [pounds] or 205. We were looking to fight with the top three in either division.

"My managers explained this to the top of the UFC. [The UFC] wanted [me] to fight with Uriah Hall, Derek Brunson. We explained that it didn't make sense for [me] to fight with these young men. We had an idea we were chasing the world title. The way we were training, we knew we had one or two fights and then go for the belt. Our thought was fighting any of these guys in the back of the roster was taking steps backwards, not forwards.”

The 43-year-old Romero had lost four of his last five bouts overall, but they had all come against top-flight competition: Adesanya, Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker (twice). It could be argued that Romero deserved the nod from the judges in at least a couple of those fights, as well.

Nonetheless, Romero’s release was announced on Dec. 4, and UFC president Dana White indicated it was just one of many cuts the promotion will make in the coming weeks.

Romero revealed that talks for fighting at 205 pounds in the Octagon were not productive, either.

"They came back with an offer for us to fight Johnny Walker at 205," Romero said. "My managers initially were saying who we wanted: Dominick Reyes, Glover [Teixiera], [Thiago] Santos and Anthony Smith. And it was back and forth, kind of quiet on their end, and once they reached back, it was we couldn't come to an agreement and they were going to commit to the release.”

Now, Romero joins a Bellator roster that also includes recent signee Anthony Johnson, another UFC veteran known for knockout power. The American Top Team product says it’s very likely that “Rumble” could end up being his first opponent in Bellator.

"At 205, Bellator has a huge amount of incredible athletes," Romero said. "There's a lot of prospects. There's a lot of opportunities. To throw a name out there right now is pure speculation. There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I'm not supposed to speak about, that I can't say yet.

"But, there's a huge possibility, a 90 percent chance, that he'll [Johnson] be the first one to face Yoel Romero.”