Yoel Romero Accuses Tim Kennedy Of Cheating At UFC 178
Yoel Romero and Tim Kennedy fought in quite the controversial bout at UFC 178, and opened the gates to a whirlwind of debate after the sketchy third round TKO. In what became dubbed “Stoolgate”, “Soldier Of God” appeared to wait on his stool for an extra thirty seconds in the break between rounds two and three. Too much vaseline had been applied by the cornerman, and ref John McCarthy ordered it to be removed.
Romero later claimed that it was the UFC cut man’s fault for applying too much grease, but Kennedy was adamant that the former Olympian had cheated. The military veteran had his appeal overturned by the Athletic Commission, and the TKO loss stands. As if that wasn’t hard enough for him to swallow, Romero is now firing accusations of his own at TK. Check out what “Soldier Of God” told MMAFighting.com:
“When an athlete hits the opponent illegally, the opponent that gets hit gets five minutes of a break to recover, Look at the video,” Romero said. “He was holding my glove illegally. When I’m against the cage, Tim Kennedy held my glove and when he holds the glove, he got lucky and I escaped before the referee saw it. Then I did it to Kennedy. When I did it to Tim Kennedy, he told the referee, ‘He held my glove.'”
Romero is referring to the second round when he was very close to being finished by Kennedy. In typical Romero fashion, he rallied back massively in the last round, but the controversy between rounds raised many questions, including about how the last round would have gone down if he hadn’t got an extra 30 seconds to recover. Romero continued:
“The people who made the mistake were the cutmen from the UFC,” Romero said. “The referee noticed too much Vaseline. The cutman was already leaving and McCarthy called him back to clean off the Vaseline. He noticed the cutman already leaving. When the cutman leaves, who’s supposed to take the Vaseline off my cut? My cornermen and trainer were there, but they’re not qualified to take off the Vaseline from my cut. The one who cleans and puts on Vaseline is only the cutman from the UFC. McCarthy insisted and my trainer said, ‘OK, I’ll take it off.'”
“The people who critique me are the people who don’t know about the sport,” Romero said. “They don’t really know about the rules of MMA. They aren’t a real fan or follower of the sport or they’re just people who like to talk.”
Was Romero given extra time? Yes, but Kennedy also got an additional half minute, and it was the official from the UFC that made the mistake. It’s a tough one to call, but the bout ended as it did and that won’t be changed. Fair play to “Soldier Of God” though, as he also added that he would give Kennedy a rematch should the UFC want to book it.
Currently slated to face fellow 185-pound beast Jacare Souza at UFC 184, you could argue that the promotion would only book Yoel Romero vs Tim Kennedy 2 if “Soldier Of God” loses against Jacare.
