Yoel Romero wants to fight Anderson Silva because ‘he is the best of all time’
When the calendar turns over to 2019, it marks the beginning of ESPN showing UFC cards. The first card they will show will be on ESPN+ on January 19, where the main event was supposed to be Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa. However, Costa is now out with an injury, meaning that fight is off.
Even though both Romero and Costa seem to want to fight each other, Romero is turning his attention to someone else. That person is arguably the greatest fighter of all time in Anderson Silva. The former middleweight king is eligible to once again fight after serving his USADA suspension. For Romero, it is quite simple why he wants to fight Silva in Brooklyn.
“I want to fight with him,” Romero said on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show (transcript via MMA Mania). “It’s not personal, between me and Anderson, it’s for me because Anderson is the best of all time in MMA. I have big respect for him. If you stay in the middleweight division and you don’t fight with the top 10 people, you won’t understand what exactly is your level. If you really want to know what is your level, you have to fight with Anderson Silva.”
Romero last fought at UFC 225 where he lost to champion Robert Whittaker for the second time in his career. The Cuban is sporting a professional record 13-3.
Meanwhile, Silva last fought at UFC 208 back in February of 2017 where he defeated Derek Brunson by decision. Silva has been out since then due to the USADA suspension. Before the Brunson fight, however, Silva went 0-4-1 in his previous five fights.
The fight makes sense for both Romero and Silva as with a win, both fighters can get back into the title picture at middleweight. However, the fight also makes sense at light heavyweight where both Romero and Silva have mentioned they would like to fight.
Ultimately, the fight would be an interesting one for fans to watch regardless of the weight.
