When did Yoel start striking?

[Reign009]

He's been boxing since he was a kid but in Cuba (before MMA), You pick a sport and focus on it. He wanted to be a boxer but his dad wanted him to wrestle because it's more forgiving and he had a natural talent for it but he would box and hide it from his dad. Eventually, as he moved up the ranks in wrestling, he naturally focused on that fully as aspirations of competing at the Olympics became more than just a dream but instead a realistic and attainable goal.

 

[Your Account]

It was in his first fight against Whittaker, he didn't expect that kind of beating ,
so he had to put additional effort to defend himself and started to strike

 

[Mob69]

Yoel has recently begun to block strikes to the head with his elbows - the hardest part of the arm - rather than the more conventional forearm.

That’s probably why Rockhold and Whittaker complain that landing punches and kicks on Romero feels as if they are hitting steel.

 

[Slatersan]

The point is he was already in his 30’s in strikeforce.

It’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

Thats a loser mentality. If gsp thought like that he wouldve never devoted so much time to learning how to wrestle halfway through his career.

 

[Dana_is_your_GOD]

30s isnt that old man..

You're old bro

 

[DanMMAleague]

Thats a loser mentality. If gsp thought like that he wouldve never devoted so much time to learning how to wrestle halfway through his career.

It’s a realist mentality in some cases.

 

[DanMMAleague]

He's been boxing since he was a kid but in Cuba (before MMA), You pick a sport and focus on it. He wanted to be a boxer but his dad wanted him to wrestle because it's more forgiving and he had a natural talent for it but he would box and hide it from his dad. Eventually, as he moved up the ranks in wrestling, he naturally focused on that fully as aspirations of competing at the Olympics became more than just a dream but instead a realistic and attainable goal.

Source?

 

[SHAOLINMONK420]

You're old bro

30 isn’t old khabib and mcconnor are both 30 or 29

 

[Toco]

He's been boxing since he was a kid but in Cuba (before MMA), You pick a sport and focus on it. He wanted to be a boxer but his dad wanted him to wrestle because it's more forgiving and he had a natural talent for it but he would box and hide it from his dad. Eventually, as he moved up the ranks in wrestling, he naturally focused on that fully as aspirations of competing at the Olympics became more than just a dream but instead a realistic and attainable goal.

thank god for his father then, he would never be in MMA if it wasn't for him

 

[superpunch]

The point is he was already in his 30’s in strikeforce.

It’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

Yeah but humans aren't dogs. There's nothing you can learn at 20 that you can't learn at 30 wtf?

 

[superpunch]

30 isn’t old khabib and mcconnor are both 30 or 29

30 is old. Khabib and Conor are both about to fall off a cliff to the younger fighters.

 

[VinceArch]

The point is he was already in his 30’s in strikeforce.

It’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

Not for a wrestler still in their athletic prime.

 

[cmw43]

Not formally, but if his brother is a boxer it stands to reason that he was also exposed to it from a young age.

Pretty sure Yoel lived at the wrestling institute in Cuba from a young age.

 

[DanMMAleague]

Yeah but humans aren't dogs. There's nothing you can learn at 20 that you can't learn at 30 wtf?

Learn maybe.

But it’s impressive that he managed to do it for big money at the top level in an elite sport.

 

[BobbyHillComedian]

30 is old. Khabib and Conor are both about to fall off a cliff to the younger fighters.

Seems like MMA fighters peak In their 30s.
30 is old in the NFL or NBA... not MMA

DC is 39
Romero is 41
Woodley is 36
Wonderboy is 35
GSP is 37
TJ is 32
Ferguson is 34
Cyborg is 33
Nunes is 30
Conor is 30
Cejudo is 31

I can go on. Out of the UFC p4p top 15, 11 are 30 and over, while only khabib (29) Holloway (26), Rose (26) and Whittaker (27) are under 30.

MMA is not really a young man's game... it takes years to learn the skillset

 

[DanMMAleague]

Seems like MMA fighters peak In their 30s.
30 is old in the NFL or NBA... not MMA

DC is 39
Romero is 41
Woodley is 36
Wonderboy is 35
GSP is 37
TJ is 32
Ferguson is 34
Cyborg is 33
Nunes is 30
Conor is 30
Cejudo is 31

I can go on. Out of the UFC p4p top 15, 11 are 30 and over, while only khabib (29) Holloway (26), Rose (26) and Whittaker (27) are under 30.

MMA is not really a young man's game... it takes years to learn the skillset

I saw someone say the average age of an MMA champion is 33.

Which is coincidentally the same age that golfers generally achieve their peak prize money.

 

[SHAOLINMONK420]

30 is old. Khabib and Conor are both about to fall off a cliff to the younger fighters.

Suuure

 

[BobbyHillComedian]

I saw someone say the average age of an MMA champion is 33.

Which is coincidentally the same age that golfers generally achieve their peak prize money.

Yeah seems about right. I was gonna average out the p4p list but I got lazy... pretty sure it comes out about that

 

[KayuudaBuusta]

I think he always has, been boxing in Cuba I believe. If you are referring to how all the sudden he looks so clean with his fights I think its just because he's way more conservative.

 

[Roljo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoan_Pablo_Hernández

This guy is Yoel Romero's haf-brother and is a very good boxer. One can easily assume that Yoel was obviously being prepared by him with his striking.

He's related to this guy and I believe trained with him in Germany for a few years: http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/324252

I still remember him getting KOd by Feijao, though.

Pretty decent record, why did he stop ?