Last weekend, in the main event of the stacked UFC 221, Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold with a brutal bombardment of third-round punches. In the subsequent moments, Romero pinned a bewildered Rockhold against the cage, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Though Romero’s intention was clearly an act of sportsmanship, the gesture didn’t go over well with former middleweight champion Michael Bisping.
Yoel Romero comforts Luke Rockhold with a kiss after #UFC221 pic.twitter.com/mv6IXxqQP7
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) February 11, 2018
Bisping questioned Romero’s post-fight smooch on a recent episode of his podcast Believe You Me.
“I don’t take pleasure from seeing somebody knocked out like that, I really don’t,” Bisping said (h/t MMANytt). “He got knocked out and he just looked so devastated, absolutely crushed. Then, to make matters worse, Romero, the guy that just knocked him out, gets in his face, pins him up against the fence, has his arms over his shoulders like that so Rockhold literally can’t go anywhere and he’s professing his undying love for him ‘I love you Luke, I love you.’ I don’t know what he was saying and he had his eyes shut and everything.”
“I mean look at Rockhold there, he looks like he’s f**king terrified, he really does. Romero has his eyes shut and he’s giving him a kiss. Look at Romero there, he really looks like he’s making love.”
Michael Bisping continued:
“It looks like he’s being sexually assaulted. But I’ve got to say, in that circumstance, and I’m not trying to knock any of the officials, but really happy Valentines Day, it’s really quite the couple they make there, I’ve got to say, they shouldn’t allow that to happen in future.”
“I know when I’ve been knocked out you haven’t got a clue what’s going on. You haven’t got a jar of f**king clues where your head is at and you have to piece it back together, and then all of a sudden you have the guy who has just knocked you out with his arms around you, up against the Octagon sexually assaulting you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with kissing a man on the cheek, but I just think after you’ve knocked them out cold, after you’ve taken away their dreams of being world champion, after you’ve literally inflicted a lot of violence, the marks are visible, there’s blood on his face, he’s maybe lost some brain cells and he doesn’t know what the f**k is going on — pinning the guy up against the Octagon and trying to make out with him is a little bit much.”
What did you think of Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold’s post-fight embrace? Is Michael Bisping right?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/14/2018.