How to MMA: Old Man Tricks with Yoel Romero
The craftiest Cuban to enter the octagon
The wily veteran is an archetype in fighting indistinct of weight class or era. There will always be the old man of the division with tricks up his sleeve. Blurring the line between dirty and clean, they look for the smallest things to gain a mental and technical advantage. Legends like Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott often occupy this category, but few veterans throughout the years have been as entertaining as Yoel Romero in MMA.
Yoel Romero entered MMA with the mindset of a wily old man.
Starting MMA at 32 + all-time great wrestling career + Amateur Cuban athlete + fringe athletic specimen = Crafty Veteran
His innate skillset, approach to fighting, unique decision making, and utter dedication to his tom-foolery all shape the strange and entertaining career of everyone’s favorite Cuban Salsa dancing aficionado.
The Man
Yoel Romero is a man like no other. One need not even watch his fights to know that he is truly a unique blend of passion, fun, and intensity. One of the most quotable men in MMA, this interview, “I love you Mike!”, and others all culminate to form one of the most fun and novel personalities in the sport.
When assessing his in-ring antics, it is important to know that he grew up in Cuba as an amateur wrestler for the national team. Cuban wrestlers are infamous for stalling the majority of a match and coming on strong in the end to secure an uncontested victory. Given the unpredictable nature of MMA one would think this style unreliable, but Romero made it work.
Third-Round Romero
Storming through the ranks of the UFC’s middleweight division birthed a mythical fighter: Third-Round Romero. Since his Strikeforce debut in 2011, 8 of his 16 fights ended by third round finish. The first two rounds of these fights would often be quite boring: Romero would bounce around on the outside, throwing the odd kick or takedown attempt and rarely get hit himself. Right as the crowd and viewers would be getting restless Romero EXPLODES with a finishing shot, and that’s all anybody remembers. Though taken into deep wars with Costa and Whittaker, and a fight with Israel Adesanya, Romero is back to his Third-Round ways in Bellator with knockouts of Alex Polizzi and Melvin Manhoef.
Romero has more than enough capability to be more active as shown by his legendary fights with Robert Whittaker, but his cardio suffers due to how much he puts behind every strike he throws. In conserving his energy the first two-rounds, the third-round strike is thrown as if he were fresh. Romero has a style that only someone with his timing, athleticism, durability, and willingness to learn the fundamentals could hope to replicate. Chito Vera’s recent run has been similar for these reasons but where Vera was overwhelmed by Corey Sandhagen, Romero was able to respond to calculated onslaughts by:
-Falling back on his jab against Costa
-Changing his strategy from a wresting to counterpunching with a high guard between his fights with Robert Whittaker
Truly an athletic freak, his craft and God-given gifts are built upon a solid technical foundation.
The Craft
Embedded within Romero’s approach to fighting are all the beautiful, dirty little tricks he used to swing the fight in his favor. Some are more blatant, like the greatest dick punch of all time against Dereck Brunson:
With others more benign, like running away from Chris Weidman to convince Mario Yamasaki to stop the fight for an eye poke:
Let us breakdown how YOU can be a crafty old veteran by assessing the best of the best himself.
The “Look Over There!”
In his all-time great fight against Paulo Costa, Romero got rocked early by a huge left-hook from Costa, dropping him. Yoel stumbled across the cage.
As if out of a cartoon, Romero points behind Costa as if to say “Watch out!” and sends Costa stumbling himself!
I do not know how something so simple and cartoonish worked, but it did. That is what makes Yoel so special. Who knows? Next time you’re in a fight or sparring trying to recover, try it out. If it worked in the most high-T fight of all time, it might just work for you.
(Don’t do this)
The Cage Grab
The cage grab ended up costing him top position in a closely contested fight with Jacare Souza, but Romero decided to pull out all the stops anyway. Beginning with a grab lasting merely a moment, this had little effect on the subsequent action.
Following this, Yoel uses a SINGLE FINGER to steady himself and reverse Jacare’s takedown to attain top control. Though the ref had them stood up, I have yet to see such significant gains be made by a cage grab with a single finger. Innocuous and powerful, Romero’s specialty.
Yoel Turns to Stone
As previously mentioned, Romero has a penchant for doing little throughout the early portions of a fight. In what was strange to experience initially but more boring upon rewatch, Romero’s title opportunity against Israel Adesanya was perhaps his inactivity brought to its absolute peak. Romero was leg-kicked for the majority of the 25 minutes, but he also landed the 2-3 most significant strikes of the whole fight accounting for the majority of his offense. To start the fight, he stood completely still for ~45 whole seconds. Even stranger? It worked. Izzy tried to feint his way in, but refused to throw a committed shot at the stone golem standing across from him. He was just standing there, menacingly . . .
Why throw as much as Alex Pereira when Izzy gets confounded by doing nothing?
Stool-Gate
Romero’s most infamous display of old man tricks was Stool-Gate. In a fight with Tim Kennedy, Romero was almost knocked out at the end of the second round after Kennedy grabbed his glove (illegal) and threw a cavalcade of uppercuts. How did the Soldier of God respond to such dirty tactic?
Stool-Gate. As his corner was exiting the cage between rounds, they “accidentally” left his stool in the cage. They also “accidentally” soaked him, almost as an homage to the Weidman fight, prompting referee Big John McCarthy to ask his corner to come back in the cage, wipe him down, and remove the stool.
Though badly hurt as the previous round ended, Romero gained just enough rest to clear his head as a result of the confusion regarding the stool and water. As usual, he no-sold the interaction, calmly sitting upon his stool until it was removed. Romero however, was not satisfied with getting even with Kennedy for the glove grab: So he brutally knocked him out within the first minute of the third round. Truly, the BEST cheater to ever grace the cage.
Yoel Romero is the best example of a crafty old-veteran who used cheap tricks, dirty tactics, and an aloof persona to augment his fighting prowess and unmatched athleticism. Though an uncultured lot might find him “dirty” and to be “cheating”, I think it is much more appropriate to see him as one of the craftiest old-timers to ever enter the cage. At the end of the day, I can’t say it any better than this:
https://twitter.com/MVMNTMartials/status/1646173092891222023?s=20
No for Gay Jesus people. No for Gay Jesus.
