“Come on man, that guy is a beast and my age so that would be great. That would be a great fight too.”
Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Bellator might not be interested in Yoel Romero, but former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort sure as hell is.
The 43-year-old UFC veteran, who now fights under the ONE FC banner, extended an invitation to Romero following ‘Soldier of God’s’ shock release from the UFC earlier this week.
“For sure,” Belfort told Low Kick MMA when asked if he’d fight Romero. “Come on man, that guy is a beast and my age so that would be great. That would be a great fight too.”
Belfort followed up by explaining why the UFC cut Romero in the first place, claiming that Dana White would rather sign younger fighters for less money.
“I see what Dana says. I see a huge market being created now,” he said. ”It’s very easy to see how UFC market. They want young guys. They wanna pay not a lot of money for these young guys. And they want people because people want to fight for the UFC for free. So, Dana’s (like) why am I paying these guys a lot of money if I have this guy and they want to fight for free?
“Now the UFC (has) created a brand they don’t’ need more athletes. So they don’t value. Even Jon Jones they don’t have value that much. Maybe (Conor) McGregor but they don’t want to put the money behind the fighters because they have a very good business model where I don’t have to pay to have the viewership. I can pay (fighters) less and still have the same viewership.”
Belfort retired following his knockout loss to Lyoto Machida in 2018 but announced a comeback the following year. ‘The Phenom’ still hasn’t fought in ONE FC despite signing with the Asian-based MMA promotion in March 2019.