Rewatched Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa

DatSamboKid

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What a great fight.

I'll keep this straight to the point.

After rewatching the fight I had Yoel Romero winning rounds 2 & 3.

I give Costa the first round. Solid pressure, nasty power combinations to the head and devastating body kicks. Costa dropped Yoel Romero early, but Yoel stunned him in return.
Paulo Costa wins the round due to pressure, volume and nasty intentions, but it was far from a beating.
Yoel Hurt Costa on a couple occasions. "Wild round" - Joe Rogan

Paulo Costa started the second round fast and with bad intentions.
A lot of offence, resuming his forward pressure and destructive power combinations.
Yoel Romero is a freak of nature for a 42 year old man, by far the greatest athlete we've witnessed in MMA. A lot of fighters would cower in front of a beast like Paulo Costa, but Yoel played the rope-a-dope against the cage. I'm under the impression this was his game plan. And it wasn't a stupid one, because half way through the second round is where Paulo Costa starts slowing the pace down and breathing heavy.
It's still a back and forth war, but the tide is changing. Very close round, Yoel finishes the round with a take down.

You gotta give it to Costa, he doesn't step back. He is visibility tired in the third round, but doesn't fold and keeps on trying to murder Yoel with every shot.
Round 3 is when Yoel Romero starts shining. His awkward approach to boxing is having success and Costa is clearly frustrated by it. Yoel lands some hard shots and Costa finishes the round with a bloodied face. Third round goes to Romero and I don't think anyone debates that.


CONCLUSION:

Yoel Romero arguably won that fight, I personally think he did.
Yes, he has missed weight on a couple occasions, yes he is on a losing streak, but if Costa is injured, the next in line is Yoel Romero, he deserves the title shot.
This fight reminded me how good Robert Whittaker is.
I believe Costa needs to adjust his approach to fighting in 5 round fights.

I'm out peace.
 
It’s rare, in my opinion, that forward movement and aggression is enough to win a fight

but that fight was close enough where the aggression and offensive movement was enough to sway rounds in costa’s favor. Yoel just flat wasn’t doing enough.

but I admit I only watched it once and was half in the bag
 
Yoel is still the toughest fight in the division. Even though he is 1-3 in his last 4 (and should be 3-1), IF Izzy beats him that's a huge W. Would love to see the old man become champ tho :D
 
Yoel seems to have a lot of fights where he should have won but didn't

He only has himself to blame for that. The crap he pulled in the costa fight standing there sticking out his tongue and posturing around like a clown earned him zero points in the fight.
 
I scored it for Romero too, which is why I'm okay with the title shot.

If Costa deserves one, so does Romero.
 
I scored it for Costa, as a big Romero fan.
I'm ok with Yoel's Title shot though. It was a close fight.
 
I can see the argument.. close fight but not a robbery..

I'm going costa since he did to romero what romero usually does to people..

He absolutely outpowered him.. badly.. romero made an argument account of veteran savvy and nerves.. anyone who does that to romero is good.. very good..
 
I thought Romero won but I still don’t think he deserves a title shot. Good thing is, once Izzy KO’s this old bat, we won’t ever have to hear about a title shot ever again.
 
Draw or slight edge to Romero if you score the fight as a whole

I had it 29-28 Costa using the current boxing system they use for scoring
 
Never seen a bad Romero fight

<RomeroSalute>
 
Costa 1 & 2, Yoel just didn't do enough to be given rd 2 whereas Costa was the aggressor walking Yoel down and seemed to be in overall control of the round (and I know judges aren't supposed to consider previous rounds but after Costa brought it to Yoel in the 1st there was a seeming onus on Yoel to respond in the 2nd which never happened)

EDIT: And I'm fine with Yoel's replacement nod for the TS
 
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That fight was a judge's nightmare. The first and third round were completely clear cut, but the second could have gone either way and you can't really fault anyone for giving it to either guy. It's weird because it wasn't really competitive in the traditional sense, the round was essentially divided straight down the middle with Costa winning for the first two and a half minutes and Yoel winning the last. It really depends on which half of the round you view as more significant. A lot of people tend to weight the end of a round more when scoring it themselves, but there's nothing in the rules that say that should be the case for judges. I gave it to Yoel myself, but I can fully understand why someone would give it to Costa.
 
yeol did nothing but stick his tongue out and eat shots. costa easily won
 
I would have been fine with any 2 to 1 UD or a Draw, it was that close. Romero fought the right type of fight to defeat a juggernaut like Costa in 3 rounds but he wasn't even close to being effective in that first round and that was his downfall. He cracked the Costa code as far as I'm concerned and I have zero doubts Romero finishes him in either the 4th or 5th.
 
People love to always spout "Yoel won", any time he has 20 seconds of activity. The dont even account for the whole 4:40 of backpeddling and eating shots, lol.
 
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Costa 1 & 2, Yoel just didn't do enough to be given rd 2 whereas Costa was the aggressor walking Yoel down and seemed to be in overall control of the round (and I know judges aren't supposed to consider previous rounds but after Costa brought it to Yoel in the 1st there was a seeming onus on Yoel to respond in the 2nd which never happened)

EDIT: And I'm fine with Yoel's replacement nod for the TS
My thoughts exactly. However, in MMA- wins or losses have to mean something or you are opening a can of worms and making it a farce. Romero has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights (missed weight in two of those fights). Lost twice to a guy in Whittaker, who Adesanya knocked out. He is getting a title shot after two losses. You either win or lose- close fights, being robbed by judges, should be irrelevant in determining the next challenger. Cannonier should have gotten the nod to face Adesanya. Who cares if he is a big name or not. Wins and losses should mean something. This leads to a slippery slope. If wins do not mean anything- what is stopping a guy like Usman to want to fight Nate Diaz because he is the bigger name? Makes MMA look like a joke to give title shots since a certain fighter has the bigger name.
 
I also gave Romero 2 and 3, but I really dislike Costa so I'm probably wrong. Either way, close fight, and Costa is injured, so its difficult to argue against giving Romero a shot. I also think he beat Whittaker the second time, even though he missed weight.
 
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