Joe Rogan names UFC fighter who could have gone undefeated like Khabib Nurmagomedov

Joe Rogan believes former UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero would have gone unbeaten had he started his MMA career sooner.

Before joining the UFC in 2013, Romero was a seasoned wrestler. In fact, after securing gold at the 1999 World Championships, he won a silver medal for Cuba at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

He eventually made his professional MMA debut, aged 32, in late December 2009 and was quickly touted for great things after beating Sascha Weinpolter via TKO.

Romero would go to compete in multiple world title fights but never quite managed to get his hands on a UFC belt; something that has become a much-debated discussion over the years.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rogan made some bold comments on Romero's career.

“He was 36 when he entered the UFC, already past his professional prime when he first started fighting in the UFC. If he had gotten into MMA when he was 20, probably nobody would’ve ever beaten him,” he said.

Rogan added: “He’s the freak of all freaks. When it comes to athletic specimens, he’s a freak.”

The UFC commentator went on to question whether or not Romero’s "muscle mass" had a negative impact on his performance in the octagon.

“I don’t know if you can keep that kind of muscle mass, and have the kind of cardio that you need to throw yourself into the fire more,” Rogan added.

“You have to know how much gas you have in the tank, and only he knows. And that style he has, it’s a style he has for someone that’s very explosive, it’s very smart…but you can’t just keep exploding.”

Back in 2020, Romero was released from the UFC, despite having three fights remaining on his contract.

Speaking in the UFC Vegas 16 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White explained why the promotion parted ways with Romero.

“It’s not just Yoel,” White said when asked about Romero’s release. “We’re going to go through some serious cuts here at the end of the year. Probably going to have 60 cuts before the first of the year.

"Yoel has lost four of his last five. He’s 44 years old. Our roster is very inflated right now. We’re going to have some big cuts coming before the end of the year."

Image credit: Getty

After spending more than seven years with the UFC, Romero would later claim that his release was "completely unexpected".

Speaking to ESPN, he said: “I was already training very hard, getting ready. We were already thinking of fighting in January or February at 185 or 205. We were looking to fight with the top three in either division. My managers explained this to the presidency, the top of the UFC.

“They wanted (me) to fight with Uriah Hall, Derek Brunson, and we explained to them that it didn’t make sense for (me) to fight with these young men.

"We had an idea we were chasing, the world title. The way we were training, making it happen, we knew that we had one or two fights and then we would go for the belt. Our thought was that fighting any of these guys that are in the back of the roster, that it was taking steps backward, not forward.”