Yoel Romero has four days to lose 13 pounds for his UFC 248 title fight.
While that number might be considered chicken feed for most combat sports athletes, who can take a dump and a long nap to drop at least half of that amount, “Soldier of God” doesn’t have the best track record when to comes to making weight.
Especially in UFC title fights.
But the 42 year-old Cuban insists his current weight of 198 pounds is “very good,” according to comments he made on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show on Monday. Remember, there is no one-pound allowance for title fights, so it’s 185 pounds or bust.
Or death, if Romero has to go through this again.
“198, muy bien,” Romero said. “Normally I am 202, depending. It is totally different now. Now I have time for training. That is the difference. I have a time for my training, in my camp. No excuses. It’s no problem for me when I have time for my training. I am not thinking about my weight for my fight. I am thinking about my training camp. Because you need to lose your weight in training camp.”
The severity of his weight cut could mean the difference between winning and losing, as Romero (13-4) will try to upend undefeated middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya (18-0). They headline the UFC 248 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (March 7, 2020) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on this weekend’s big event click here.