Lyoto Machida fought the best of the best during his legendary MMA career.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion fought against Jon Jones, Luke Rockhold, than Henderson, Randy Couture and many more MMA icons during his 38-Fight Run in the sport.
The Lyoto Machida competition level was so high that there was rarely a chance to underestimate anyone.
'The Dragon' recently admitted that he overlooked an opponent, he was made to pay for it.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Lyoto Machida admits that he has underestimated Yoel Romero
In 2015, Yoel Romero was a relative newcomer in the UFC with a record of 10-1 MMA.
The muscle-bound Cuban wrestler came from a controversial TKO victory on Tim Kennedy on UFC 178 in September 2014.
Romero was saved by the bell at the end of the round two before his corner lasted forever to get out of the cage between rounds, so that their hunter sits in his chair to recover almost an extra minute.
For 58 seconds in the last frame, Romero Kennedy stopped with a flurry of strikes to record a non -convincing victory that apparently convinced Machida that he could beat him without a complete camp.
“I fought Yoel Romero when he was in the UFC right at the start,” Machida said on the Jaxxon podcast.
“He was cool! But when I saw his technique, I thought I could handle it.
“I had an operation and everything, and then I had only had to accept the fight in the short term five weeks before the fight. You don't have a great camp in five weeks. You have to have at least eight weeks to be calm and prepare everything.
“I underestimated Yoel and it wasn't good because he was tough.”
On Fight Night, Romero Machida with five annoying elbows insisted to put the karate specialist asleep and score a knockout victory on the third round.
Where are they now?
Lyoto Machida mentioned time on his MMA career after a KO defeat against Fabian Edwards at Bellator 281 in February 2022.
The loss made it four in a row for the Brazilian knock outtoist, who had never experienced such a line.
Yoel Romero is a year older than he is 48, but he continues to compete and win in MMA.
In February 2024. 'Soldier of God', Thiago Santos postponed to improve his post-PuC record to 3-2.
Since then he has switched to 'Dirty Boxing' and he scored two KO victories fighting for the promotion co-ownership of Jon Jones.
It is currently unclear when or where Romero will then fight, but fans have certainly not seen the last of him.