Yoel Romero ‘the most vicious in a violent sport’

In a violent sport, Yoel Romero may be the most vicious of the lot. This is who Australia’s Robert Whittaker must defeat to claim UFC gold on Sunday.

Yoel Romero poses in an open workout ahead of his UFC 213 interim middleweight title fight against Australia's Robert Whittaker in Las Vegas on Sunday (AEST).

Everyone here is looking for something. Looking for connection. Looking for love. Looking for sex. Looking for money. Looking for music. Looking for a high. Looking for another high. Looking for the one. Looking for anyone. Hedonistic experiences are pursued with desperation and urgency. Immediate gratification is the desired result. In Las Vegas, if you want it, you want it now.

Robert Whittaker’s frenzied attempt to win Australia’s first Ultimate Fighting Championship will take no longer than 25 minutes but it’s the culmination of a 20-year journey. He started fighting as a six-year-old. He’s a black belt in hapkido. A black belt in karate. A brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has two nicknames. The Reaper, and Bobby Knuckles.

Two decades after he began learning the arts of flying feet and fists, Bobby Knuckles receives less than half an hour of ferocious mixed martial arts against Cuba’s Sydney Olympic wrestling silver medallist Yoel Romero on Sunday (AEST) to satisfy his craving for the world middleweight title.

Sydney’s Robert Whittaker (right) announced himself as a UFC title contender in November last year with his knock-out victory over the highly-rated Derek Brunson. Photo: David Crosling

Romero is a beast of man and their brawl will be as desperate and urgent as anything else to be seen on the Las Vegas strip this weekend.

“I want to be known as one of the best fighters ever,” Whittaker said. “So in order to walk that path I need to fight the toughest and baddest dudes in the world. More than anything this week, more than that shiny belt at the end of it, I get the chance to fight Yoel Romero. He’s such a tough dude. I’m in this game to fight hard dudes.”

Bobby Knuckles yesterday did a public training session on the Park Theatre stage normally occupied by the resident act at the Monte Carlo casino, Ricky Martin, getting hoots and hollers of support from hundreds of spectators for the blurring demonstration of punches and kicks.

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He moved on to an intense session at the Sergio Penha Brazilian Jujitsu Academy in which he was steering bullets just down the road from Floyd Mayweather’s gymnasium on Schiff Drive.

Mayweather was nowhere to be seen ahead of next month’s stoush with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. He seems unlikely to be at his own training facility any time soon.

Pieces of A4 paper on the front window said: “Gym Closed. Under Repair.”

Injured UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. Photo: AFP

UFC boss Dana White has confirmed the winner of Knuckles-Romero will fight England’s world champion Michael Bisping later this year.

Bisping is injured and the interim title is up for grabs in his absence. He’s predicted victory for the Australian at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena.

Bobby Knuckles said: “Yoel is going to be Yoel. He’s going to push the fight. He strikes. He’s got amazing wrestling but I’ve got a few tricks to try to stop him, so we’ll see how that goes. Stand-up is my strength and that’s what I’m going to push onto him. This is a field I’m strong in. This is my field. This is my world. Wrestling is his strength but my strength is striking. I’ve been striking for a long time. I work it in and out and I’m going to give it to him. I think it’s going to be an absolute war. Yoel is going to bring his best game. That’s going to bring the best game out of me.”

Romero is a frightening individual. The self-described “Soldier of God” quotes the Bible as often as he beats opponents to pulp. He trains in Miami by wrestling four men at a time. He’s never lost a UFC fight. In a violent sport, he just might be the most vicious of the lot.

“I’ve always said it: God changes all the paths from morning to evening,” Romero told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Where there’s a storm, from one moment to the next, God can bring calm. That’s why I have faith. I confide in him and give myself to his hands. It doesn’t matter what happens: God will always be there. When you’re in God’s hands, you’re always blessed. All of a sudden, you’re fighting for the belt. You just have to do your job and God will do his. Train, have discipline and conviction. This is a result of this.”