Why Yoel Romero was not as good as everyone thought he was

Yoel Romero is no longer a UFC fighter, but much of the hype behind him came from his exploits as a mixed martial artist under the Zuffa banner. 'The Soldier of God' was a widely feared force in the middleweight division, with the cocky self-proclaimed future champion Darren Till once joking that he'd never face him.

The Cuban phenom is most remembered for his eight-fight win streak in the middleweight division, and the terrifying knockouts that punctuated some of his performances. He has fought for the title multiple times, but squandered his chances more often than not.

While he was certainly a skilled fighter, a closer inspection of the 46-year-old's bouts in the UFC, and even his latest blunder against Vadim Nemkov at Bellator, reveal that he might not be as good as everyone remembered him being. Here are all the reasons why.

Yoel Romero's win streak had few championship caliber wins in retrospect

Building an eight-fight win streak is impressive. That cannot be taken away from Yoel Romero, but his long purple patch of success deserves more scrutiny that it's gotten. His first high-level win in the UFC came against Derek Brunson, a perennial top-10 fighter at 185 pounds.

However, Brunson has never beaten a top-level championship caliber opponent who wasn't on a losing streak. When he defeated former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, who was already declining by then, 'The Dragon' was 1-3 in his last four fights, going 1-4 after losing to Brunson.

Yoel Romero Vs Lyoto Machida

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His only other championship caliber win came against Darren Till, who was only a title contender at welterweight, a weight class below. Furthermore, the Englishman was also 1-3 in his last four fights when he lost to Brunson. But besides, Derek Brunson, another good win for the Cuban was over Tim Kennedy.

Alas, it was a controversial win. Yoel Romero was on the brink of defeat in the second round, but was given far too much resting time between rounds due to negligence from the referee and cutman after excess Vaseline was applied to a cut and thus, needed to be removed. He had extra time and his stool was never taken.

Yoel Romero subsequently TKO'd Kennedy in the third round, but the win was not well received at the time. He next faced Lyoto Machida, who by then was well on his way out of the UFC and 1-2 in his last three fights. He was aging, resulting in a significant loss of the speed he needed for his karate blitzes.

After his loss to Romero, Machida tested positive for a banned substance and fought three more times before heading to Bellator. However, the Cuban's win over Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend in MMA, was commendable and impressive as the Brazilian was on an eight-fight win streak at the time.

Yoel Romero's subsequent win over Chris Weidman, though, was not the high-level victory it seemed like it was at the time. The former middleweight champion was coming off of a career-altering beating at the hands of Luke Rockhold, whose effects most people had yet to grasp.

Weidman was never the same after that bout, going from undefeated to taking his next five losses (including his defeat to Romero) all by way of either knockout or TKO, with the All-American's only wins coming against an undersized Kelvin Gastelum and Omari Akhmedov, a fighter who isn't even in the UFC anymore.

5 years ago today, Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold
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The Cuban phenom's final UFC win came against Luke Rockhold, a former champion who, like Chris Weidman before him, experienced a sharp decline. He was knocked out by Michael Bisping, of all people, a man widely regarded as a pillow-fisted volume puncher.

While Luke Rockhold bounced back with a win over David Branch, his subsequent loss to Yoel Romero was the start of a three-fight losing streak that led to him retiring from MMA before returning to combat sports for a BKFC bout with Mike Perry, a welterweight, and losing via second-round TKO.

So throughout Romero's run, his only championship caliber wins are over 'Jacare' and arguably Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold, all men who underwent massive declines afterwards, which can't even be attributed to facing him as former foes like Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares embarked on future win streaks after facing him.

Yoel Romero's losses

It's easy to forget because his career isn't often spoken about in such terms, but Yoel Romero consistently failed to defeat anyone who were at the peak of their powers. He exited the UFC on a three-fight losing streak.

Furthermore, he was 1-4 in his last five fights in the promotion, only managing to beat Luke Rockhold during that rough patch. He first lost to future middleweight champion Robert Whittaker for the interim title. After a single win over Luke Rockhold, he was back in the mix, which was a trend for Yoel Romero.

He was never far from a title fight. So he subsequently squared off with Whittaker in a rematch. By then, the Australian was the undisputed middleweight champion. But due to Yoel Romero missing weight, their bout was rendered a non-title fight and he was ineligible to claim the divisional strap even if he won.

Three years ago today, Robert Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision to win the interim UFC middleweight title at UFC 213

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He lost again and went on to face future title challenger Paulo Costa, losing a thrilling war against 'Borrachinha'. However, a bicep injury forced the Brazilian out of the title fight he had earned against Israel Adesanya with his win over the Olympic medalist.

Thus, Romero, despite being on a two-fight losing streak, was chosen as Adesanya's opponent for the former kickboxer's first-ever title defense. Unfortunately, their bout was universally panned for its lack of action. Still, Adesanya was declared the victor, and in the aftermath, Romero left the UFC.

'The Soldier of God' later signed with Bellator and was initially scheduled to face the late heavy-handed Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson in the promotion's light heavyweight grand prix. Sadly, he failed his pre-fight medicals due to an eye issue and was replaced.

Yoel Romero eventually made his Bellator debut against Phil Davis, a wrestler. Given the Cuban's status as an Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling, his foe's path to victory seemed limited. Yet, Davis outwrestled him en route to a split-decision win.

To fast-track him to a title fight, Yoel Romero was matched up with a more beatable opponent in Alex Polizzi, a fighter of little renown. As expected, he was victorious and next faced Melvin Manhoef, a man as notorious for his very poor takedown defense and glass chin as much as he is for his knockout power.

Romero won the bout via third-round knockout, securing a title fight against light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov. However, their bout, which took place at Bellator 297, was perhaps Romero's worst-ever performance. While he's always been a low-volume fighter, his style during the bout was almost a caricature.

Yoel Romero's technique didn't fool Vadim Nemkov 😅 #Bellator297 pic.twitter.com/NeBTBgWPeF

He did next to nothing, trying to lull his foe into a false sense of security by maintaining a lethargic, almost drunken and wobbly rhythm, before suddenly exploding every now and then, hoping to catch him off guard. Instead, he was thoroughly outstruck and his mystique broken.

Strangely, when Romero actually did something, namely wrestling, it worked. But few can decipher the logic behind his decision-making, and the bout marked a whimpering end to MMA's strangest wild man. And at 46 years old, he's unlikely to get any more title opportunities.