Background and career
Yoel Romero Palacio (born April 30, 1977) is a Cuban professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler who currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division. Romero formerly competed in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was a challenger for the UFC Middleweight Championship, in Bellator MMA where he was a challenger for the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Championship, and in Strikeforce. Romero competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he was formerly interim RAF Light Heavyweight Champion. As a freestyle wrestler, Romero previously competed at 85 kilograms, where he was the 1999 World Champion (five-time medalist at the World Championships), the 2000 Olympic Silver medalist, a three-time World Cup winner (six-time medalist), the 2003 Pan American Games Gold medalist (bronze medalist in 1999) and a five-time Pan American Champion.
Romero started training in wrestling in the 1990s, eventually representing Cuba at senior level in the FILA Wrestling World Championships, which is held in non-Olympic years, from 1997 to 2005. At the 1999 World Wrestling Championships Romero became world champion by defeating the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Khadzhimurad Magomedov of Russia. He missed out on becoming world champion again in 2002. After landing a three-point throw against Adam Saitiev to take a 3–2 lead, Romero was penalized a point for passivity with 20 seconds remaining. In overtime, after a scramble that saw Romero end on top, it was judged Saitiev had scored in the interim. Romero competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics, representing his home nation of Cuba. He won the silver medal in the 2000 freestyle competition, losing to Adam Saitiev in the finals. He finished in fourth place in 2004. While competing in freestyle wrestling, Romero has defeated three Olympic gold medal winners, and five different world champions. Among them were Americans Cael Sanderson and Les Gutches, both of whom Romero has multiple victories over. Romero medaled in five world championships, only missing out with his fifth-place finish in 1997, and a sixth-place finish in 2003, when he was battling injuries. Other notable achievements include a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games, a quadrennial competition held the year before the Olympics, as well as multiple medal-winning finishes at the FILA Wrestling World Cup. Romero competed infrequently after 2005: he was suspended for all of 2006 by the Cuban Wrestling Federation for allegedly throwing his match against Mindorashvili at the 2005 World Championships. After winning the Grand Prix of Germany in the summer of 2007, he did not return to Cuba, choosing instead to remain in Germany. Romero then joined the Ringer-Bundesliga, a professional wrestling league in Germany, in which teams compete for team titles. Romero competed as a starting member of SV Johannis Nuremberg, as well as helping coach and train the team. Eventually he began to transition into MMA.
After defecting to Germany in 2007, Romero made his professional mixed martial arts debut in December 2009. From 2008 to 2011, Romero was trained by Serge Kuftin (combat sambo & MMA coach) and Zike Simic (kickboxing coach), both of whom were from Peter Althof's "Martial Arts Gym Nürnberg". Over the three years, Romero amassed a record of 5–0 in various promotions in Germany and Poland. Romero won his debut via TKO against Sascha Weinpolter. In his second bout, he scored a 62-second finish via TKO against Ricky Pulu. He then took on Polish standout Michał Fijałka in his third bout. Romero won in the third round via TKO, which was at first ruled a controversial disqualification, due to a knee on the ground thrown by Romero. In 2011, he won his next three fights via TKO in the first round.
Romero signed with Strikeforce in July 2011 and made his promotional debut against Rafael Cavalcante on September 10, 2011, at Strikeforce 36. He lost the fight via KO in the second round. A neck injury (a neck break to his C4 vertebra) kept him out of action until 2013.
After Strikeforce was purchased and absorbed by the UFC, Romero made his promotional and middleweight debut against Clifford Starks on April 20, 2013, at UFC on Fox 7. He won the fight via flying knee knockout in the first round. This win earned him Knockout of the Night honors. Romero was expected to face Derek Brunson on August 31, 2013, at UFC 164. However, Brunson suffered an injury and pulled out of the bout. Promotional newcomer Brian Houston was briefly linked as a replacement, however Houston was not medically cleared to compete at the event and the bout was canceled. In his second UFC bout, Romero faced Ronny Markes on November 6, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 31. He won the fight via knockout in the third round.
For his third fight, Romero was again set to face Derek Brunson on January 15, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 35. After trailing for two rounds, Romero won the fight in the third via TKO due to punches and elbows to Brunson's body. Both fighters earned a $50,000 a Fight of the Night bonus award. In his fourth fight, Romero faced Brad Tavares at UFC on Fox 11. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Romero faced Tim Kennedy on September 27, 2014, at UFC 178. He won the fight via TKO in the third round, giving Kennedy his first stoppage loss in thirteen years. This fight generated much controversy: Romero was hurt badly at the end of round 2, and received extra time to recover between rounds. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan mistakenly blamed this on Romero's cornermen for failing to leave the Octagon on time, when the blame was actually on a UFC Cutman who applied too much Vaseline to a cut and referee John McCarthy for allowing Romero to stay sitting while trying to get the cutman to return to the octagon to wipe the excess off. Later it was also noticed that Kennedy was illegally holding Romero's glove while striking him at end of round 2. The win earned Romero his second Fight of the Night bonus award.
