In a deceptively important middleweight title fight, Tim Kennedy and Yoel Romero faced off in the second fight of UFC 178's main card. Both men are physical monsters, come from top-level gyms and own magnetic personalities.
However, there could only be one winner.
That winner, of course, was Romero. After two back-and-forth rounds, he stumbled off his stool 37 seconds later than he should have but mustered up one of his signature explosive right hands and finished Kennedy with ground-and-pound.
So what did we learn from this fight?
Yoel Romero's Corner Deserves a Performance Bonus
Seriously, how smart was that by them? Romero was saved by the bell at the end of Round 2 after Tim Kennedy unloaded a scary series of punches. When Romero stumbled to the corner with a huge cut over his eye, his corner took a solid 30 extra seconds to get out of the cage.
It's impossible to say how much of a difference that made, but it's ultimately something you can't ignore. Romero's corner might have just gamed a win for him.
There will be no asterisk. There will be no overturning by the NSAC. There will be no title run for Kennedy.
All because of one genius play by Romero's corner.
John McCarthy Is Awful at Refereeing
For a long time, John McCarthy was regarded as the best ref in the sport, politicked out of Nevada by the petty, evil Keith Kizer. Well, with the UFC traveling outside of Nevada more often than not these days, we're seeing a lot more of him, and with the nostalgia glasses off, we get to see that McCarthy is average at best.
Sure, he is willing to yell at fighters. Sure, he calls 'em like he sees 'em.
But that doesn't mean he's not the guy who will award Bobby Green a win for kicking James Krause in the cup enough. That doesn't mean he hasn't turned in bad stoppage after bad stoppage. That doesn't mean his fast-and-loose approach with the rulebook is a good thing.
Yoel Romero Is Freakishly Strong
Seriously, guys, did you see that in the first round? How Kennedy got Romero down? Then he just popped right back up? Then when Kennedy tried to clinch him, Romero was just like "get off me, puny man," and Kennedy was like "ah"? How awesome was that?
But no, seriously, Kennedy is as explosive and physically strong as almost anybody at 185 pounds, and Romero made him look like he was a lightweight. While that likely comes at the expense of his cardio, there is no dismissing how much of a difference that makes in a fight.
Yoel Romero Is Going to Get a Top Contender Bout
While Joe Rogan was quick to complain about "stoolgate," he sure was speedy to tell the fans to stop booing and was almost as speedy to say that Romero was dominating the whole fight. All that says one thing: The UFC is fast-tracking Romero to a title shot.
Romero is all sorts of marketable. He is legitimately "athletic and explosive," and the fact that he is one of the only Top 10 fighters from Central America makes him invaluable as the UFC pushes into the region. He also has an underappreciated swagger that the vast majority of fighters just lack, which will make his stock grow exponentially as he approaches the belt.
And he will do just that. It might come against Luke Rockhold. It might come against Ronaldo Souza. But either way, Romero's next fight will have a shot at the belt on the line.
