Yoel Romero explains why he won’t move up to light heavyweight

Yoel Romero will return to the Octagon at this weekend’s UFC 248 event in hopes of dethroning current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

The title fight has received much criticism, this due to the fact that Romero is coming off back-to-back losses to Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.

Nonetheless, this is the fight Israel Adesanya wanted, as he believes a win over ‘The Soldier of God’ is crucial for his middleweight legacy.

PhotoCred: YouTube / MMA Fighting

Yoel Romero is no stranger to title shots, the Cuban standout has received three opportunities in the past with the promotion. With that said, Romero missed weight in two of those three title shots, causing him to miss out on interim middleweight gold when he knocked out Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.

Although he has had his struggles making the middleweight title fight limit of 185-pounds in the past, Yoel Romero has never opted to move back up to light heavyweight where he started his professional MMA career.

Romero explained that decision in a recent Media Day interview:

“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),” Romero said via MMAJunkie. “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.”

Yoel Romero continued:

“When you don’t sleep good, and when (you’re not eating healthy), something wrong happens: mistake. … When I have a good training, it’s not possible to go up. The (potential opponents) are so heavy.”

Do you think Yoel Romero will finally be able to capture UFC gold when he takes on Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 this weekend? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!

March 3, 2020