It looks like Yoel Romero is very angry. He weighed 186 pounds at the first weigh-in and, according to the rules, the officials should give him additional two hours to cut the weight.
But then the shocking decision was made – after one hour, the process is stopped and The Soldier Of God missed weight again, which turned down the chance to take UFC Middleweight belt from Robert Whittaker. The financial penalty isn’t that much problematic to Romero but the humiliation and his “irregular” final weight of 185.2 pounds are. (via MMAMania.com)
“The whole plan was to use those two hours,” agent Abe Kawa told MMA Fighting. “So everything we did from that point going forward in the weight cut was to use those extra two hours slotted to us.”
An administrative call, made by commission director Nancy Illg, made significant financial damage to Yoel Romero. His chance for $50,000 bonus money was turned down, and he had to give 20% of his purse to his rival. What could stand behind this shocking decision? Did she saw something dangerous was happening? Nobody knows.
Maybe the move was done in the best interest of the fighter, but why it has to go over Yoel Romero and his back? I mean, it is a title shot, it could be considered offensive and humiliating. At least Romero is a good man who has never done anything bad, even against trash-talkers like Luke Rockhold. And he had all the rights of this world! Romero filed a lawsuit asking for his money back.
“We’re gonna sue them,” Manager Malki Kawa told The MMA Hour. “I’m gonna send the paperwork soon. It’s going out probably this week.”
This is Romero’s second weight miss in a row, so he should have been more serious when it comes to this. He could go Light Heavyweight. Robert Whittaker passed the weight and didn’t find himself in the mercy of the commission.
Whittaker won the fight via split decision. What do you think, was the move of the commission legal? Was Yoel Romero really endangered or something else hides in the shadows?
