‘Gatekeeper’ Romero Still Eyes UFC Gold

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White, made it very clear that the chances of Yoel Romero ever fighting for a world title inside the Octagon after putting up a dud at UFC 248 are slim-to-none.

But Romero isn’t letting go of his dreams of becoming a UFC champion so easily. According to “Soldier of God’s” manager, Ibrahim Kawa, while he’s okay with labeling his client with the dreaded “gatekeeper” tag, he still has a lot left to offer. And once he starts laying people out violently as he’s done in the past, it will be impossible to deny him another championship fight.

“We can label Yoel as a gatekeeper at this point, but if he knocks out three guys in devastating fashion, everyone’s going to be saying Yoel’s the best middleweight, and he needs another title shot,” Kawa told MMA Fighting. “If guys can’t beat Yoel, then eventually, the only guy left is Yoel,’ he added.

”He didn’t lose an opportunity where he’ll never fight for a title again. I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s just depends on the fans. If the fans get behind Yoel and they believe Yoel deserves a shot, the UFC will give him a shot.”

At the end of the day, there was another man standing in front of Romero inside T-Mobile Arena, as middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, also didn’t pop off much offense. So, laying the blame solely on the Cuban grappler’s shoulders is a but unfair.

”In his mind, he was pushing (the action),” Kawa said of Romero’s performance. “Not the first two rounds – he was very patient. The game plan was to be patient, because as we saw, Izzy doesn’t know what to do coming forward. He’s a guy that waits for you to come in, and he makes all his moves based on you.”

Still, a win is a win and “The Last Stylebender” is the champion and has the pick of the litter moving forward. As for Romero — who intends to fight for at least another decade — he will have to wait and see who the promotion offers for his comeback fight.

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