Yoel Romero

Yoel Romero Palacio is a well-known Cuban former freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist. At present, he competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. His freestyle wrestling career earned him a world gold medal and an Olympic silver medal. His has been awarded six Olympic and world medals in total. Till 16th April 2018, he was at the #2 ranking position of official UFC middleweight rankings.

About

Yoel Romero date of birth is 30th April 1977. Born in Pinar Del Rico, Romero is a Cuban national. He belongs to a family where wrestling was taken very seriously but no one in his family had been internationally recognized to a great extent except him. His brother Pablo Hernandez helped him in preparing for wrestling. Pablo is currently making a name in boxing.

Since childhood, he has been passionate about fighting and working out in the gym that is why he had been able to build an excellent physique. His hard work paid off and he got the well-deserved chance to fight for the National Cuban Wrestling team.

Mixed martial arts career

Romero went to Germany and got trained by Zike Simic and Sergei Kuftin. In December 2009, Romero made his MMA debut in the ring and won the match against Sacha Weinpolter with a terrific knockout. This victory declared his great arrival in MMA. Till three years after that, he retained an undefeated record of 5-0 in many other promotional events in Germany and Poland.

In July 2011, Yoel suffered a neck injury at Strikeforce promotion. Due to the injury, he had to be away from the action for some time. He returned with the biggest MMA promotion- the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

On April 20, 2013, Romero made his UFC debut as a middleweight fighter. He defeated Clifford Starks and interestingly won in the very first round by knocking out Starks to adorn the title of “Knockout of the Night.” His second UFC bout took place in November where he knocked out his challenger in the third round.

The next two bouts of Romero were against Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares. In January 2014, he won against Derek Brunson via a brutal knock out in the third round. This match was so intense that both of the fighters shared the “Fight of the Night” honor. He defeated Brad Tavares via a unanimous decision.

Romero’s next fight against Tim Kennedy turned out to be quite controversial. He was badly hurt after the second round of the fight and to everyone’s amazement was allowed some extra time to recover. He won the match by knocking the opponent in the third round. For Kennedy, it was the hurtful first loss in thirteen years. Both of the fighters shared the “Fight of the Night” honor for this great match.

In June 2015, Romero continued his streak of winning by defeating Lyoto Machida via a TKO in the third round of the match. Romero’s fabulous performance earned him the “Performance of the Night” award.

He was banned from fighting for six months. In November 2016, he returned to the ring for a match against Chris Weidman. He won the match by knocking out Chris Weidman in the third round. In July 2017, Romero lost the bout against Michael Bisping in a unanimous decision.