Tonight’s Bellator 266 event was headlined by a light heavyweight bout featuring Yoel Romero taking on Phil Davis.
Romero (13-6 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya for the UFC’s middleweight championship in March of 2020. That setback had marked Yoel’s third in a row, as ‘The Soldier of God’ had previously been outpointed by Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker.
Meanwhile, Phil Davis (23-6 MMA) had entered tonight’s Bellator 266 headliner with Yoel Romero in hopes of rebounding from his unanimous decision loss to reigning light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov this past April. Prior to that loss, ‘Mr. Wonderful’ was sporting a three-fight winning streak, which included two TKO victories.
Tonight’s Bellator 266 headliner proved to be a rather one sided affair. Although Phil Davis was able to control and seemingly dominate Yoel Romero in rounds two and three, one judge managed to score the fight in favor of ‘The Soldier of God’. Despite the one perplexing scorecard, the other two judges got it right and ‘Mr. Wonderful’ was awarded a split decision victory.
Official Bellator 266 Result: Phil Davis def. Yoel Romero by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-26)
Check out how the pros reacted to Romero vs. Davis below:
Yoel is sweating his butt off in the back warming up for the fight !
— Platinum Mike Perry (@PlatinumPerry) September 19, 2021
Oh my, Yoel Romero is in the cage #Bellator266
— Below the Belt with Brendan Schaub (@btbshowtime) September 19, 2021
Post-fight reactions to Phil Davis defeating Yoel Romero:
@BellatorMMA @ScottCoker Amazing night at fight congratulation
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) September 19, 2021
Yoel Romero gave up a combined 8 takedowns in his entire Strikeforce/UFC career, gave up 5 to Phil Davis over three rounds tonight.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 19, 2021
Phil Davis with an outstanding performance tonight against Yoel Romero. Davis is so effective at what he does. #bellator266
— Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) September 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/SandhuMMA/status/1439447991195144197
Who would you like to see Davis fight next following his split decision victory over Yoel Romero tonight in San Jose? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!