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Yoel Romero shook his head and waved his finger like Dikembe Mutombo. Bellator cage announcer Michael C. Williams was reading the results of the Bellator 266 main event and one of the judges won the fight to Romero.
Romero disagreed with the judge, pointing to his opponent, Phil Davis, and punching him. In the end, Romero was right, if not the winner.
Davis beat Romero by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-26) on Saturday night at Bellator 266 in San Jose, Calif., Throwing some cold water on Romero’s expected debut at Bellator. Davis edged Romero out on the feet and then used his struggle to seal things in the third and final lap.
“He’s a monster,” Davis said. “I have felt this power more times than I would have liked tonight.”
The fight wasn’t as close as the split decision might have indicated, but the first two rounds were indeed close. The former was mostly idle, but Davis landed slightly sharper shots. In the second, Romero pulled off some tricky combinations and a calf kick that briefly buckled Davis. But towards the end of the round, Davis could have stolen things with a one-two combination that briefly knocked Romero off balance, followed by a kick to the body.
Davis, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion at Penn State, went to his bread and butter in the third round, which was a gamble, given that Romero is a former Olympic wrestling silver medalist. . But Davis beat Romero four times in the round, completely stifling any chance Romero had for a rally.
Davis subsequently opened up about personal issues in his post-fight interview, saying he found out in 2020 that both of his parents were diagnosed with cancer.
“I love you guys, and I can’t do this without you,” Davis said.
Davis (23-6, 1 NC) has won four of his last five fights. He fell to Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov in the quarterfinals of the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix in April. Davis, 36, is a former Bellator light heavyweight champion and winner of the light heavyweight Grand Prix. He’s been 10-3 at the Bellator since 2015 after a run as the UFC’s top contender.
Romero (13-5) had not fought since falling to Israel Adesanya in a UFC middleweight title fight at UFC 248 in March 2020. Romero left the UFC in December 2020 and signed with Bellator. The Cuban native, who fights from Florida, was supposed to compete in the Bellator light heavyweight tournament but had to step down because he was unable to pass his medicals earlier this year. Romero, 44, has scored a victory in his last six fights, but has fought an elite competition.
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