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SAN JOSE, Calif .– Yoel Romero is 0-1 at Bellator, but promotion chairman Scott Coker isn’t losing faith in one of his biggest free agent pickups.
On Saturday night, Romero (13-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) lost a split decision to Phil Davis in the Bellator 266 main event at the SAP Center. After two competitive first rounds, Romero was knocked out and controlled for much of Round 3.
After the event, Coker hailed Davis’ victory but also expressed confidence that former UFC middleweight title challenger Romero has more in the tank at 44.
“I think Phil is an amazing fighter, as we all know, and he just delivered another solid performance,” Coker said at a post-fight press conference. “He fought smart. Yoel is still dangerous. If he hits you, it’s over. I think Phil probably felt that power early on, so he tried to stay and move around a bit. He shot him down several times. I loved the fight. I thought it was a big fight. I’m telling you, Yoel will come back. This is, for me, his fight back. How long has he been fighting? We give him another fight, and he’ll be really, really ready for the next one.
“… Anyone can do what they do. Again give this guy another side and another big fight, I think he’s going to come in and start throwing bombs on people. He is a dangerous individual. You saw him. One punch, and it will be over. This is the guy.
Romero has mostly competed at 185 pounds throughout his career. In fact, it had been a decade since he fought in the light heavyweight until Saturday. As for what the future holds, Coker would like Romero to continue at 205 pounds but is open to a return to middleweight.
“I’m going to talk to him, because I would like him to fight maybe and maybe he would stay at 205,” Coker said. “Gegard (Mousasi) is going to be busy early next year fighting Austin (Vanderford). If this division opens up and he wants to come down and fight the winner of this fight, we would like to do that too. We have a lot of great options for Romero, and I’m happy to put them all together. “
At the end of the main event, Romero indicated that he was either frustrated or surprised that his main event was not five rounds. Unlike the UFC, Bellator has untitled three-round fight headliners. Coker has indicated that a change may be made to Bellator’s system in the near future, but that it should be permanent.
“We just didn’t want to make a change,” Coker said. “I think maybe at some point we’ll see it. I just know that once we make that decision it’s not going to go back. I heard it was something he had in mind too. I can’t blame him. He has fought a lot five rounds in his career. It was a three-round fight, and maybe next time he’ll be in a five-round fight.
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