Yoel Romero Explains Why He Won’t Fight At Light-Heavyweight

Yoel Romero has had a very public battle with the 185lb middleweight limit over the past few years.

So much so that current champion and UFC 248 opponent Israel Adesanya was keen to have another opponent on standby this weekend. However due to injuries and other issues with top contenders this hasn’t been possible.

The Cuban Olympian revealed he weighed 198lbs on Monday whilst speaking with Ariel Helwani. He’ll have to cut 13lbs throughout fight week in time for the weigh-in something he is very confident of doing. For outside observers its hard to have the same confidence given Romero’s previous struggles making weight for title fights.

Romero’s first missed weight at UFC 221 when he faced on Luke Rockhold for the interim middleweight title. In fairness the 42-year-old wrestler did come in on late notice before missing the weight limit by 2.7lbs. Despite spectacularly knocking out the former champion, Romero was not eligible to win the title.

In his next fight Romero again missed weight. He faced then middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 225 in a highly anticipated rematch for the title. However, Romero came in 0.2 off the middleweight limit and was again ineligible to win the title. Although in the end it didn’t really matter as the Australian fighter earned the win on the judge’s scorecards.

After consecutively coming in overweight many had expected to see Romero step up to 205lbs were he had started his career in MMA. Speaking to MMA Junkie the Cuban explained why the move to light-heavyweight didn’t and wont be happening, he said.

“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 at a media event Monday in Los Angeles. “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.

“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.”

Will Yoel Romero make weight for his fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 248?