Few fighters really get me excited these days. Yoel is one of them.
He is, hands down.. the BEST wrestler to ever compete in MMA. Legit Olympic caliber and silver medalist.
Nobody else, really even comes close. The most impressive part of his game is that he doesn't lay on his opponents, or use his wrestling to abuse the point system and grind out wins.. infact, he's got two of the most amazing third round finishes i've ever seen against Brunson and Kennedy.
Yoel is 37 years old, and didn't even start fighting until 2009 when he was 32. That is insane.. can you imagine this guy in his early 20's? 10 years past his physical prime, he's manhandling the MW division and is a serious title contender.
Although he suffered a setback agains Feijao, he's looked outstanding this far. It should also be noted that Feijao went on a serious run a few years ago, winning the Strikeforce LHW championship. People will talk about his fall from grace in the UFC, but often times in this sport, a fighter can peak and deteriorate very quickly. Feijao, was very legit at the time. When he beat King Mo, the guy was a force. Questionable cardio, chin, and heart have been his downfall in recent years. Ofcourse on Sherdog, this is perfect for bashing a fighter and claiming he was never any good.
Since that fight, he's dropped to MW and gone undefeated. 5-0, with 3 third round finishes. Who else even has 3 last round stoppages in their entire career?
Against Markes he showed his potential. Graceful striking mixing it up with his already beautiful wrestling. Then comes the Derek Brunson fight.
This fight is often brought up to discredit Yoel, or to claim he is simply "hype".
Who is Derek Brunson? Well, he's a 3 time all american division 2 wrestler. He's considerably more experienced in MMA than Yoel.. and he's 5-2 in strikeforce and UFC. Yoel, is apparently not a very good MMA wrestler, because he was taken down by this man.
I encourage you to actually go re-watch this fight. As a fight fan, we tend to get caught up in the moment. When watching a Yoel Romero fight, we think.. " this guy is an amazing wrestler". So to see him be taken down, fickle fans are quick to say " Ha, Olympic wrestler my ass".
He was taken down, because he showed zero concern for Brunsons wrestling. Moving in, trying to make the fight exciting and take his head off. Brunson is a wrestler, that is his background. This is why he is a pro MMA fighter, he can wrestle. Often fans forget the end result of this fight, Derek a bloody mess on the floor. Yoel also holds stoppages in the UFC against Markes and Kennedy. Fans also love to discredit him for the Kennedy fight, where he once again left his opponent a bloody mess on the floor. This time dominating his highly touted opponent for the first two rounds, not giving up a single takedown to the grappling expert Kennedy.
Yoel's biggest weakness is father time. He's old, no beating around the bush. The guy started his MMA career in his 30's and has been competing at the highest level for years. He holds two victories of Cael Sanderson, who many people consider to be the greatest American Wrestler of all time. I think his time is right now, he's got all the talent to win the belt. His cardio, and chin are a major concern. We've seen holes in his game in this area.. perhaps the weight cut is to blame for his cardio, and we see aging fighters have problems taking shots. He's old, he needs to work on his cardio. He IS the best athlete at MW and is capable of giving Weidman a serious wrestling lesson.
Thoughts?