So, originally, this was supposed to be the Anthony “Rumble” Johnson post. Last week, Bellator Fighting Championships made a splash when news broke that Rumble – a two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger who hadn’t fought since losing to Daniel Cormier for the second time in 2017 – was choosing to make his long-awaited comeback with Bellator, not the UFC.
That instantly created intrigue. Rumble was one of the most physically imposing and powerful knockout machines in UFC history, reigning as one of the most feared mixed martial artists in the world over a three-year period from 2014-17. But things over at the USA’s No. 2 MMA promotion got a little bit beefier on Monday, when Scott Coker and the boys got an even bigger-name capture.
Bellator has earned itself a reputation during Coker’s tenure for being the “retirement home” for old UFC stars. But while Rumble is 36 and Yoel Romero 43, these signing feel different. They feel like Bellator further strengthening a division that has long been one of its weakest, and turning their group of light heavyweights into something to watch closely in 2021.
When last we watched Rumble, he was still the monstrous wrecking machine that laid waste to the UFC’s light heavyweight division. At the end of the day couldn’t solve one of the sport’s all-time greats in Daniel Cormier, but we never saw any real indication of declining skills from Rumble, who retired while still in his relative prime and has been resting for the last three-plus years.
Early in his career, Rumble absolutely killed himself attempting to make welterweight, missing weight by almost comically large margins, and ultimately being released from the UFC in 2012 after being TWELVE pounds over for his middleweight debut against Vitor Belfort.
So Rumble made the best career move he ever made: he embraced being a beefy boy. Rumble found himself in the old WSOF fighting at 205 and even heavyweight, and returned to the UFC with a vengeance in 2014. At a much more natural weight class, Rumble became a force. He went 6-2 over the next three years, scoring five knockouts – four in the first round, and all against top competition.
Rumble’s going to swing between light heavyweight and heavyweight in Bellator, which could be bad news for heavyweight champion Ryan Bader. Bader did the same trick in Bellator after jumping over in 2017, for a time holding titles in both weight classes simultaneously. Now, he might not be able to avoid an encounter with the man who needed just 86 seconds to knock him out with crunching ground and pound in 2016.
Fighters with strong chins and big-time KO power tend to age relatively well, and that’s always defined Rumble. His return to the cage will carry with it great intrigue, and he could be on the fast track to win the world title he never held in the UFC. But when you add Romero to the mix, that’s when things get really interesting.
Although Romero is nearing his mid-40s, he’s one of the best fighters of his age bracket we’ve ever seen, owing partially to his late start in the sport – he didn’t debut until he was 32 – and some of the most freakish natural athleticism and explosiveness in MMA history. He was fighting the very best of the best right up to his UFC release: four of his last five bouts have been for world titles.
The former Olympic silver medalist wrestler has lost a few, yes, but none have been blowouts. Romero’s battle with Robert Whittaker in June 2018 was a split decision defeat, but most outlets scored it for Romero. His fight with Paulo Costa in Aug. 2019 was an unforgettable war where Romero had plenty of moments. And even in his baffling stare-down with Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title in March, Romero won multiple rounds on two judge’s scorecards.
Romero still has great knockout power and the type of chin so durable that it seems almost impossible to rock him. You don’t always know what you’re going to get out of him, but this is still a world-class fighter who ranked as one of the very best middleweights in the UFC. The big question will be how his skillset translates at light heavyweight, a class he hasn’t fought at since the earliest days of his pro career.
Romero debuted in Strikeforce at 205 in 2011, only to get knocked out by the heavy-handed Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, the only KO loss of his career.
When he moved to the UFC for his next fight, it was at 185. The 43-year-old is a muscular and compact fighter at 5-foot-10, and he’ll be giving up height and length to almost anyone he’ll be fighting. The Feijao fight shouldn’t be indicative of anything we might see in Bellator – Feijao had similar proportions to Romero, and was just a much crisper overall striker at that level of Romero’s MMA development. Romero got a lot better over the coming years. But with some of the frames he might face at 205, he could face some new problems.
Because while Rumble and Romero are going to be expected to roll through the Bellator light heavyweight division in theory, it might not be so easy in practice. Bellator has a young champion in Vadim Nemkov with the potential to be one of the best 205-pound fighters in the world – the sambo master beat the brakes off of Bader in August to seize the belt, and appears to be improving rapidly every time he steps in the cage.
Bellator also swooped in and signed away top-five UFC contender Corey Anderson earlier this year, a long and strong wrestling ace who is squarely in his prime. There’s also the matter of Phil Davis, once a top UFC contender himself, who has always been a smothering wrestler but has genuinely improved as an all-around fighter since signing with Bellator in 2015.
I wouldn’t categorize any of those fights as sure things for Rumble or Romero. And whether either of them win a belt or not, their signings can only be a good thing for Bellator and for MMA as a whole, as the UFC threatens to cut dozens of fighters over the next couple months. Amidst rumors and reports that Bellator could be in a perilous financial situations, they’ve found the cash to outlay on two big-name stars, and ensured that it can still serve as a home for top-flight fighters looking for new homes.
The MMA world needs that. Just as much as it needs Rumble Johnson exploding people’s skulls with hadouken punches again. The world may still suck, but we’ll at least get some cool fights before we die.
The Big Fight 