(When Romero says his grill has been "iced out" for the last couple months, he means that literally. PicProps: MMA Bay)
For a pro fighter, a lot of things seem atypical about Ricardo Romero. First off, as he tells Old Dad in an interview with MMA Fighting on Monday, Romero’s MMA career still plays second fiddle to his day job as an energy derivatives broker on Wall Street. Secondly, he admits he only started training to fight as a way to get over the depression of breaking up with his baby mama. Lastly, and most of interest to us here at the Potato, Romero managed to overcome a laundry list of injuries suffered during his UFC debut in July to defeat Seth Petruzelli by second-round arm bar.
Romero pretty much got the tar beat out of him for the first five-plus minutes of his bout against Petruzelli. Despite a 10-1 record compiled fighting on New Jersey’s independent scene – including victories over some known names like the UFC’s James McSweeney as well as TUF washouts Constantinos Phillippou and Karen Grigoryan – Romero looked completely unprepared for UFC action. He was “Octagon jitters” personified and his honesty on that subject is something else that is refreshing about the former Rutgers wrestler.