Yoel Romero

Yoel Romero
Romero in Dagestan, Russia
Born	Yoel Romero Palacio (1977-04-30) April 30, 1977 (age 39) Pinar del Río, Cuba
Other names	Soldier of God
Residence	Miami, Florida, United States
Nationality	Cuban
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	185.5 lb (84.1 kg; 13.25 st)
Division	Light heavyweight Middleweight
Reach	73.5 in (187 cm)
Style	Freestyle Wrestling, Muay Thai
Stance	Southpaw
Fighting out of	Coconut Creek, Florida, United States
Team	American Top Team
Wrestling	Olympic Freestyle Wrestling
Years active	2009–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	14
Wins	13
By knockout	11
By decision	2
Losses	1
By knockout	1
Notable relatives	Yoan Pablo Hernández, brother
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
Medal record Freestyle wrestling Representing  Cuba Olympic Games 2000 Sydney 85 kg World Championships 1999 Ankara 85 kg 2002 Tehran 84 kg 2005 Budapest 84 kg 1998 Tehran 85 kg 2001 Krasnoyarsk 85 kg Wrestling World Cup 1998 Stillwater -85 kg 2000 Fairfax -85 kg 2005 Tashkent -84 kg 1999 Spokane -85 kg 2004 Baku -84 kg 1997 Stillwater -85 kg Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo 84 kg 1999 Winnipeg 85 kg Pan American Championships 1998 Winnipeg -85 kg 2001 Santo Domingo -85 kg 2002 Maracaibo -84 kg 2004 Guatemala City -96 kg 2007 San Salvador -84 kg

Yoel Romero Palacio (born April 30, 1977) is a Cuban mixed martial artist (MMA) and former World Champion and Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling. He competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ranked #2, and formerly competed in the now-defunct Strikeforce organization. As of April 2017, Romero is #15 in pound-for-pound rankings.

Romero competed in both the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics, representing his home nation of Cuba. He won the silver medal in the 2000 freestyle competition, losing to Adam Saitiev in the finals. He finished in 4th place in 2004. While competing in freestyle wrestling, Romero has defeated 3 different Olympic gold medal winners, and 5 different world champions. Among them were Americans Cael Sanderson and Les Gutches, both of whom Romero has multiple victories over.

He also represented Cuba at the senior level in the FILA Wrestling World Championships, which is held in non-Olympic years, from 1997–2005. At the 1999 World Wrestling Championships Romero became world champ by defeating the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Khadzhimurad Magomedov of Russia. He controversially missed out on becoming world champ again in 2002. After landing a 3-point throw against Adam Saitiev to take a 3–2 lead, Romero was penalized a point for passivity with 20 seconds remaining. In overtime after a scramble saw Romero end on top, it was judged Saitiev had scored in the interim.