Scott Coker weighs in on Yoel Romero’s future after Bellator 285 win

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After Yoel Romero barked into the digicam like a canine center-cage, he loudly declared to a raucous Dublin crowd what he needs subsequent – and that’s a crack at middleweight gold.

Within the Bellator 285 co-main occasion Friday, Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) brutally knocked out a retiring Melvin Manhoef (32-16-1 MMA, 4-5 BMMA) with elbows within the third spherical. The victory was his second in a row for the promotion, however each victories have been at mild heavyweight.

Romero is adamant a couple of middleweight run. Though Bellator president Scott Coker likes what he sees at mild heavyweight, he revealed post-fight that he received’t stand in the best way of a weight drop.

“Yoel needs to struggle at 185 and he hasn’t fought with us at 185 but,” Coker mentioned at a post-fight information convention. “He regarded good tonight, very calm and really composed. He did plenty of injury and he regarded actually good. That’s one thing that’s going to should be a call that he’s going to make. To me, I really feel like 205 is an effective weight class.

“In case you have a look at him, he appears to be like in form. He appears to be like calm. He’s a beast. I feel he appears to be like good at 205. If he actually needs to chop and make the load, that’s going to be as much as him. We’ll determine along with his administration who was right here at this time and so they’ve already began speaking in my ear about making the 185 run. If he’s severe about it, then we’d undoubtedly think about it.”

Romero, 45, has received back-to-back fights in 2022 after a 2021 promotional debut loss towards Phil Davis by unanimous choice.

As is the case with most of his post-fight information conferences, Coker was unwilling to decide to a declaration of Romero’s subsequent matchup. It’s unclear if a title shot might be subsequent or if he’ll face one other contender first.

At middleweight, the current Bellator champion is undefeated American Prime Crew fighter Johnny Eblen (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA), who weighed in on Romero’s win in a quick tweet Friday.

“Simply one other legend I can retire,” Eblen wrote. “Nothing to see right here.”