Despite being one of the more senior fighters today, Yoel Romero doesn’t plan to retire any time soon.
At 46, most active MMA are retired or way past their primes. However, that’s not the case for Romero – far from it. The highly decorated Cuban wrestler is just hours away from one of the biggest fights of his career, a light heavyweight title bout against highly touted champion Vadim Nemkov.
The fight serves as the Bellator 297 main event Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
As often seen in sports, seasoned athletes take the opportunity of achieving something big to walk away while on top. That was recently displayed by Amanda Nunes after she retired as a two-division UFC champion this past Saturday at UFC 289.
Romero respects that path, but he assures fans will see more of him, even if he claims Bellator gold.
“No chance, no chance,” Romero told MMA Junkie in Spanish when asked about potentially walking away as champion. “No chance, no chance at all. That doesn’t even go through my mind. I’ve got five more years in this sport. That’s what I think of. I plan on fighting until I’m 52. That’s my focus.”
Romero has told MMA Junkie in the past that he’d like to walk away at 52 just like Bernard Hopkins did in boxing, and that plan still stands.
This title fight for Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) is, in many ways, a story of redemption. “The Soldier of God” might just be the fighter who got closest to being champion in the UFC without winning the belt.
Romero fought four times for UFC titles. Three times he lost in competitive, even controversial, decisions to Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. The other, which was for the interim UFC middleweight belt, he actually won by knocking out Luke Rockhold, but he was ineligible to win the belt since he has missed weight by two pounds.
This fight with Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) is very important to Romero, who still dreams of championship status.
“I think it would be something very satisfactory for my team, for me, being able to win a championship belt,” Romero said. “It always is satisfactory to be able to take a belt home, knowing that you worked hard. Also, knowing the persistence, the dedication to training was well worth it. It also lets you know that if the work that you did led to you winning, then that’s the path that you need to continue on. You need to stay on that path and keep working. That’s what it would mean.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.
