Yoel Romero has a very specific reason for not moving up to 205 pounds
Yoel Romero's back-to-back weight misses made people question if Middleweight was the right division for him, or whether he should move up a class to Light Heavyweight.
But Romero himself is waving away any chances of that happening. Talking about it at a media conference in Los Angeles ahead of his Middleweight title fight against Israel Adesanya, the UFC veteran explained why he was quite comfortable in the weight class he is at right now.
Yoel Romero: When I have a good training, it's not possible to go up
The first time Romero missed weight was at UFC 221 when he was to fight Luke Rockhold on a short notice for the interim Middleweight title. Missing the mark by 2.7 pounds, he was ineligible to claim the title despite knocking Rockhold out. The second time was at UFC 225, when he missed weight by a mere 0.2 pounds for a title shot against Robert Whittaker.
But despite the weigh-in debacles, he is not planning on moving up because of how his body reacts to training.
"When I’m training, I go down (in weight), and when I’m training, normally when I have a good training, (I weigh a) maximum 210 (pounds). It’s not possible. When I’m not training, boom – yeah, heavyweight. But when I’m training – 210, 208, 210, 208. It’s not possible for me. It’s not possible because I’m training good. I have respect for my job. When I’m training, I know what I need to do for good training."
Because of this, Romero believes it would not be a wise call to move up to 205 pounds, as all his rivals would be weighing way more.
"When I have a good training, it’s not possible to go up. The (potential opponents) are so heavy."
Going into the UFC 248 fight week, Romero said that he weighed 198 pounds, which means he had only four days to shed 13 pounds. Otherwise, he would once again be ineligible to claim the title even if he wins. But when asked if he would be able to make it or not, Romero simply laughed with a shrug of shoulders.
Romero vs Adesanya takes place in the main event of UFC 248 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 7.
Credits to MMA Junkie for the quotes.