Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
One of the biggest fights going down this Saturday night (Aug. 17, 2019) at UFC 241 in Anaheim, Calif., is a Middleweight showdown between top contenders Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero. While the two seem to have a beef with one another, “Soldier of God” says it only goes one way.
Indeed, Romero doesn’t understand why and how this fight became so personal for “Borrachinha,” if he’s never had any type of reaction with the Brazilian bruiser in person.
“My big question is this: Why is it personal? I’ve never seen that guy in my life,” Romero told MMA Junkie. “I’ve never talked to him. Why is it personal? … Believe me, I don’t know why.”
Of course, some of Costa’s disdain toward Romero could be linked to the fact that “Soldier of God” blamed one of their previously cancelled bookings on a failed drug test on Costa’s part. In return, Paulo and his team denied the accusations.
As a result, the back-and-forth between the two has been nothing more than the two men accusing each other of using performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). Real “bad guy” stuff.
Still, despite the fact that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to promote this fight, focusing more on the Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic rematch, as well as a fight between Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis, the showdown will have a big impact on the Middleweight title picture.
“Soldier of God,” though, isn’t focused on another looming title shot.
“I’m not thinking I want Israel or Robert,” he said. “No, that’s not me. I have a big family. When you have kids, you have a big, big, big questions in your head: What do I do for my kid for school next week? That’s the only thing I’m thinking,” he added.
“The people that are close to me, they know that’s my mentality. Why too much stress? Why do I need to think, ‘I need to fight Jonny “Bones” Jones. Too much stress. You’re thinking about this and not training. Not going MMA. Go to construction, go to piano bar, something like that. But you do MMA because you want to fight.”
Still, the victor will move closer to a shot at the winner of the upcoming title unification fight between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesnaya, set to go down in a couple of months at UFC 243.
To see who else is competing on the UFC 241: “Cormier vs Miocic 2” fight card click here.