I would say he lost the first Whitaker fight because he slipped in the 5th and Whitaker landed on top of him, and in MMA that is enough to "win." The second Whitaker fight, he clearly won that. He beat the living shit out of Robert Whitaker. I don't care what the judges decided. The Paulo Costa fight was inconclusive for me. I didn't see anything to make me believe that either fighter won that fight. However, Yoel Romero is 42 years old, and he may be 43 years old in his next fight. Still, I am hearing any "Yoel Romero is out of his prime" talks. In fact, I hear the opposite. He is the fighter than most MW (except Israel Adesanya) refuse to call out. LOL So, is Yoel Romero out of his prime yes or no? Let us settle this now before people start making hindsight biased narratives. LOL It seems like a fan-favorite fighter is only "out of his prime" after he loses and seldom before. LOL
Psychically of course.. no athlete ever is in his prime while approaching his mid forties. But fighting prime is a different talk and we do not know yet if he is completely over the hill, he still was competitive and dangerous in his last fights even if he wasn't at his best form. Fighting prime is composed of a lot more factors and it doesn't just mean his age and physicality.
Dunno What if Eraser flatlines Bender-San in under a round? Suddenly losing a competitive 29-28 fight doesn't look bad Lets see how he looks in his next one and what Costa goes on to do
“Prime” is a pretty vague term and it’s not meant to be used in the way that most Sherdoggers use it. Only a fighter’s coaches, his training partners his doctors and the fighter himself (and sometimes not even the fighter) will really know when they are at their physical peak/height of skill. Sherdoggers use “Prime” to mean something like “a win over them is still valuable.” in which case, Yoel is still in his prime...
That Costa fight was just bad IQ all around he could've easily taken punished him along the fence, got the TD and pounded him out. He seemed to have the better cardio late but continually gave Costa breaks and egged him to the center of the octagon. His ego was either way too big or he was way too dumb. Edit: he's out of his prime but still sharp
He isn't washed up(I think, any fight could happen at this age) but nearing his mid 40s hard to argue he's close to his peak(not that we have any idea what that would look like). Being good at an old age doesn't mean that was the best you ever were. It's how good he is at this age which is why people respect him so much, cause you could only imagine the kind of monster he would have been 10 years ago. And yeah I think he lost the first Whitaker fight, won the second under the 10-9 system. But the 10-9 system favors the fighter who spreads their performance out over the whole fight and it's possible for the better fighter to lose, Romero being the main example. And 10-8 is the main protection against that sort of result but judges really hate using it, especially twice. Thought he was better either fight though. Agree with the Costa decision, like a lot of three round fights really no right answer there. Think the anger over that came from this being the third one in a row crazy to see a fighter keep losing on close scorecards over and over again. There's also a feeling the young up and comer gets the edge in these sort of coin flip fights over the older veteran. I had it for Yoel but no robbery.
Imo he is slightly fading. Slowly, but surely. No one can still be on top form going to the mid 40s. And since RW broke his eye socket, I even wonder if he can still see 100% on one of his sides, like Bisping.
And Adesanya is the worst match up for him. He’s got the speed and power to be the first who starches him outta there out cold. We’ll see.
Romero is still in his prime. they should feed Anderson to him for fun so he can get an easy win imo. But Anderson would be too chicken to accept that fight.
He had a late prime due to being a wrestler and having his first MMA fight at 32(gsp retired at 32 the first time). As a striker your chin usually is gone at that age. He looked past prime against Costa for me. Reflexes and speed were a bit gone.
