Yoel Romero Reveals He Had Former UFC Champion On His Blacklist
Yoel Romero is still looking back on his latest win in the Octagon under the UFC banner.
As seen in the main event of UFC 221 pay-per-view event at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia, Romero was able to score a knockout win over former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.
This fight was supposed to be for the interim title. However, that all changed once Romero missed weight. As a result of that, Rockhold could only win the interim title if he won the fight.
Instead of looking ahead to his upcoming title challenge of middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, he is looking into the past.
The title contender spoke with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, and during his appearance on the radio show, he gave some insight into his beef with Rockhold.
It all started with his 2016 issue with USADA. If you recall, he failed an out-of-competition test in December 2015 that resulted in him being suspended for six months.
“You remember one day when you talked to me, I said I have only one list, a blacklist? He [was] on the blacklist,” Romero told Ariel Helwani (via MMA Fighting). “He knows why. He knows why. Because he talked a lot of (trash).
After USADA, when that happened, when I had this problem with USADA, he talked (trash). Before USADA, before, every time when he saw me, whether (in) Vegas or when the UFC made something like the (athlete) retreat, he’d say, ‘Hey, what’s up, my man? You want to go out with me? I need a party.’ I’d say, okay, come on, let’s go, no problem.”
“When I [was hanging out] with him, he was like a friend,” Romero continued. “He’d [put his arm around me] like this, ‘Yoel, what’s up?’ And every time, he asked me the big question. Every time, he asked me: ‘Hey Yoel, you want to fight with me?’ I’d say, ‘What?’ (He’d say,) ‘Yeah, so you want to fight?’ I’d say, ‘No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait. That’s not the question. The question is, do you want to fight me?’ He’d say, ‘No, no, no. I don’t want to fight with you.’ So I’d say, ‘Okay, so you don’t want to fight me and I don’t want to fight you? That’s it.’”
Romero also revealed what he was saying to Rockhold after he knocked him out.
“In this moment, I said, ‘Hey, Luke. I love you. I love you,” Romero said. “You remember the time when you were staying with me, hanging out, and you said, ‘Do you want to fight me?’ I said, ‘You remember? And you see what happened after USADA? You remember? I’m still here. I love you.’”
“He didn’t [say] anything because he knows. He knows.”
