Yoel Romero News

James Lynch - April 27, 2019

Paulo Costa has accepted a six month punishment from the USADA. The rising UFC middleweight agreed to a six-month suspension from USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) for violations in June and November of 2017. The suspensions were handed down August 10, 2018 and expired on February 10, 2019.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 236, undefeated UFC middleweight contender Israel Adesanya became the interim champion with a dazzling decision defeat of the dangerous Kelvin Gastelum. Adesanya’s thrilling victory over Gastelum caught the attention of pretty much every member of the MMA community. That includes former middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero, who sent the new interim champion a quick message post fight.

Tom Taylor - April 4, 2019

Last night, we were hit with the unfortunate news that former UFC middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero had been forced out of the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale with an illness. This left his opponent, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, without an opponent. According a report from Brazilian MMA news outlet Combate, the UFC has already found a new opponent for the man they call Jacare in streaking middleweight knockout artist Paulo Costa. This bout has not yet been officially confirmed by the UFC.

Nolan King - April 3, 2019

According to a report from Brazilian media outlet AgFight, Yoel Romero is out of the UFC Fort Lauderdale main event due to an illness. The report states that Romero contracted pneumonia in the weeks leading up to the fight, causing him to withdraw from his headlining bout against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2019

For a period, middleweight destroyers Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa were expected to collide this spring. In a surprising twist, however, Romero was then matched up with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, leaving Costa without an opponent. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Romero stated that he heard Paulo Costa had been flagged for a potential United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation — the reason he’s apparently been pulled from this fight.

Drake Riggs - March 11, 2019

The middleweight division in MMA is one that is always providing some sort of intrigue and the reasons for why are seemingly limitless. One of the recently proposed match-ups over the last few months has been one that pits divisional powerhouses Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa against one another. However, the fight has fallen through on two separate occasions now.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2019

When former Strikeforce champ Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza joined the UFC middleweight division in 2013, he was right on the cusp of a UFC middleweight title shot. He’s remained in close range of a title shot ever since, but unfortunately has never had the opportunity to fight for a UFC belt thus far.

Drake Riggs - March 7, 2019

The UFC heads to Florida in late April for what looks to be a rather exciting card from top to bottom. At the very top, however, there has been a change in the card’s originally expected main event.

Chris Taylor - January 22, 2019

Former UFC title challenger Yoel Romero (13-3 MMA) will return to the octagon this Spring at UFC Miami. That news comes via Brazilian news outlet Combate, who broke the following news on Twitter.

Tom Taylor - November 13, 2018

Fearsome UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero has made several callouts of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the past, and apparently, it’s still a fight he’s interested in — especially now that his planned 2019 matchup with the undefeated Paulo Costa is off the table. The appeal of this fight with Anderson Silva, Yoel Romero explains, is that it would give him a clear sense of the level he’s at. If he can beat the middleweight legend, well then he’s right where he wants to be. If he can’t, then it might be time to reassess.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

After the UFC attempted once again to set up Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa, it fell through and now Romero wants to face Anderson “The Spider” Silva. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC was planning to book Romero vs Costa as the main event of the UFC’s first event on ESPN+ which will take place on January 19 in Brooklyn, New York.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2018

Over the weekend, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold announced that he’d like to fight long-time middleweight contender Yoel Romero again in the future — at light heavyweight.  To remind, Rockhold and Romero fought earlier this year. In this first meeting, Romero won by knockout. Unfortunately, Romero missed weight for this bout, which made it a tough defeat for Rockhold to swallow.

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2018

That UFC 230 main event we’ve been waiting for? Apparently, it’s in the works, and it’s an undeniably surprising one. According to a report from Ariel Helwani, the UFC is looking at booking a light heavyweight showdown between Alexander Gustafsson and Yoel Romero for the card. If the fight is indeed booked, it will reportedly be for a title, though it’s not certain whether the pair would be fighting for an interim or undisputed title.

Drake Riggs - August 20, 2018

Even though the UFC came out and announced the fight themselves, it looks like they may have gotten a bit too eager as Yoel Romero won’t be ready. The fight was supposed to be Romero vs the red-hot prospect Paulo Costa on November 3rd at UFC 230 in New York City.

Tom Taylor - July 24, 2018

UFC 230, which goes down on November 3 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden, has grown by one absolutely dynamite matchup, as former UFC middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero is set to collide with surging knockout artist Paulo Costa. This bout was announced by the UFC on Tuesday afternoon.

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2018

Yoel Romero and Daniel Cormier’s war of words continues. The latest skirmish in this ongoing saga occurred on Friday afternoon, when Romero took another dig at Cormier — and American Kickboxing Academy — on Twitter.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

Earlier this week, on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Yoel Romero’s manager Malki Kawa confirmed that, after a pair of weight-cutting blunders, the long-time middleweight contender plans to move to light heavyweight. The hope, Kawa said, was for Romero to meet Daniel Cormier in a light heavyweight title fight in his first fight back in the division. “So we are talking to UFC about him moving up to light heavyweight,” Kawa said. “And I think what we’re going to propose to them — well to be honest they offered us the Gustafsson fight and we accepted it. But Gustafsson needed to fight in August and Yoel wanted to fight later because he has to have surgery, he broke his orbital. So there are talks for him to fight at light heavyweight.”

Drake Riggs - July 11, 2018

Daniel Cormier is currently the hottest commodity in the MMA world. And after becoming a dual-division champion at UFC 226, rightfully so. Everyone has their eyes on the light heavyweight and heavyweight titleholder and that ranges from fans to fighters. Some of which being former fighters looking to return like Brock Lesnar and currently active fighters looking to enter into one of Cormier’s divisions.