The Cuban-American star Yoel Romero has been pulling a lot of stunts at the Ultimate Fighting Championships. The fighter has been competing in the Middleweight division and is a top contender according to the UFC middleweight rankings. Interestingly, Yoel Romero has participated in several championships and has won so many medals since the inception of his career. He has been decorated both as a freestyle wrestler, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist. Learn more about Yoel below.
Yoel Romero Bio
The Cuban wrestler was born as Yoel Romero Palacio on the 30th day of April 1977. He came from a family that is well grounded in wrestling and fighting. Yoel grew up in Pinar Del Rico, Cuba with his parents and other siblings. His younger brother named Yoan Pablo Hernandez is also a famous kick-boxer who have won the IBF Cruiserweight title. Yoel possesses Cuban nationality and ethnicity.
Developing an interest in fighting from a very young age; young Romero was always at the gym and working out which has contributed to his great physique. He first started his career as a wrestler in Cuba where he featured both at the FILA World Wrestling Competition as well as other Wrestling Championships.
Professional Career
Turning Pro is 2009, Yoel represented Cuba at the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, where he emerged as the silver medalist. He equally competed as a freestyle fighter. Throughout his wrestling career, the Cuban wrestler had five gold medals at the Pan American Championships, a gold medal at the Pan American games; three gold medals at the Wrestling World Cup and a gold medal at the World Championships.
After Yoel Romero won the Grand Prix of Germany in 2007, the fighter chose to remain there in order to compete in the Ringer-Bundesliga. While he was there, Romero was the starting fighter of SV Johannis Nuremberg team and subsequently; he started transitioning into a mixed martial artist.
As a mixed martial artist, Romero triumphed over Sascha Weinpolte in his first professional fight in December 2009. Yoel won the match by a total knockout. His trainers were combat sambo, kickboxing, and MMA coaches Sergej and Zike Simic. Interestingly, Yoel held a 5 – 0 record in the first three years of his career until 2010 and he fought in various competitions both in Poland as well as Germany.
In 2011, Yoel signed up with American mixed martial art and kickboxing organization called Strikeforce. He had his first promotional fight against Rafael Cavalcante in September 2011. Although he lost the fight by a knockout, Yoel sustained a neck injury which kept him away until 2013.
Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) Career
Making his first middleweight appearance in the UFC in April 2013, Romero won his first fight against Clifford Starks by a knock in the first round. He also repeated same in his second fight against Ronny Markes in December 2013. The following year, he had three fights against Derek Brunson, Brad Tavares, and Tim Kennedy which he won all of them by total knockouts.
In 2015, Yoel Romero clinched victory in two matches against Lyoto Machida and Ronaldo Souza. He had just a fight in 2016 against Chris Weidman and Yoel knocked out Chris to emerge victorious at the end of the match. After being undefeated in nine games at the UFC, Romero had his first loss in 2017 against Robert Whittaker. He lost the game by unanimous decision.
In February 2018, Romero won his first bout against Luke Rockhold with a record of 13 – 2 and later in June of the same year, he fought against Robert Whittaker. Yoel entered the game with a pound over the middleweight scale and eventually lost back and forth by split decision.
Is He Gay?
While the advocacy for gay rights has been on the increase in the United States; it has been largely accepted in the UFC. Although Yoel Romero has earned significant accomplishments in the cage, it’s his words, not his fists that many of his fans and critics are concerned about. The fighter was mixed up in a gay controversy following his victory over Lyoto Machida in June 2015. After the fight, the UFC fighter took the microphone and said ‘No Forget Jesus’ but his words were received as ‘No for Gay Jesus.’ Apparently, the reaction occurred about the same time the Supreme Court passed legislation for gay marriage for UFC fighters Obergefell and Hodges.
Many had thought that Yoel had made such comment with regards to the court’s ruling; thus stirring a huge controversy in the UFC. However, Yoel Romero seeing the rage of the controversy issued a public statement to clarify the issue. He also apologized for the misinterpretation of his words. Meanwhile, Romero has a straight sexual orientation and he is not gay.
Yoel Romero’s Wife
In addition to his successful career, Yoel Romero also got an amazing family and he is a father of three amazing kids. Although he doesn’t talk much about his family; it is already known that his wife and children are in Cuba. The fighter left them there while he left in search of a more challenging and profitable environment for his career. Romero also has plans of bringing his family over to the United States soonest.
His Height and Weight
The talented mixed martial artist is very tall, standing at a height of 5 feet 10 inches 1055 m. He equally has a commensurate weight of 185 pounds (84 kg). Owing to his weight, Yoel Romero has competed in the lightweight division (185 – 205 lbs) and he is currently a contender in the middleweight (170 – 185 lbs) to date. Additionally, Yoel has a masculine bodybuild, brown eyes, and black hair.
