Soldier Of God Coming For Two Belts!

Yoel Romero doesn’t appear to be eying retirement anytime soon.

“The Soldier of God” closed out his chapter with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in a less than ideal fashion in 2020. Suffering three consecutive losses, Romero, 45, departed the promotion and signed with Bellator.

A Middleweight contender for the entirety of his UFC run, Romero returned to Light Heavyweight in Bellator where he was expected to debut as part of their world title Grand Prix. Despite his unfortunate removal from the tournament, the Cuban still has his sights set on gold, but not just at 205 pounds.

“My goals are still the same, my ambitions are still the same — become champion in both divisions,” Romero told MMA Junkie. “I’m fighting at 205 in this fight and after this fight, lose some weight and go down to 185 pounds. Resists a little more, not eat as much and go down to my old division, 185 pounds.”

Romero was deemed medically unfit to compete against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in his debut, leading to an eventual split decision loss against Phil Davis. The Olympic silver medalist in wrestling has since picked up a dominant victory over Alex Polizzi via third round technical knockout in May 2022 (watch highlights).

Originally, Romero was to face kickboxing legend, Melvin Manhoef, instead of Polizzi. The pair will now collide this weekend (Fri., Sept. 23, 2022) in Dublin, Ireland.

“For me, it’s a pleasure to be fighting in Dublin,” Romero said. “It’s one of those places where people would love to put on a show. As far as Melvin, I don’t think about whether I’m going to beat him easily or not. No. What I do think about is doing my job, putting in play what we’ve been practicing in camp, and getting my hand raised in victory.”