Bellator MMA had arguably the best card of the weekend, with reigning champs Vadim Nemkov (light heavyweight) and Sergio Pettis (bantamweight) both defending their respective titles against fearsome competitors in Yoel Romero and Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 297.
Interestingly enough, it’s the losing side of those match-ups that sparked the most conversation in the aftermath of the event. That’s something Bellator President Scott Coker addressed during the post-fight press conference.
“The one thing with Patricio is, we have to sit down and have a conversation. Are you going to stay at 35, or do you want to go back to your normal weight at 45?” said Coker. “He might feel more comfortable at 45. Maybe that’s where he should be.”
“If he fights at 35, he’s going to run into speed all the time. So maybe he might be better off at 145.” Coker also still has plans for the reigning featherweight champ, who was looking to becoming the first fighter in both Bellator and MMA history to claim a title in three weight classes. “Listen, it’s no secret I would love to have him fight Aaron Pico at some point in the 45 pound weight class. But it’s going to be up to him. He deserves to have— the next move is going to be up to what he wants to do, and we’ll take it from there.”
Yoel Romero could be an interesting case moving forward as well. He was thoroughly beat to the punch, quite literally, in his fight with Vadim Nemkov, but still rallied to win the final round on all three scorecards. At 46, it feels like his chance at a title has now passed, but Romero is a former middleweight competing at 205lbs, and the future isn’t clear.
“As far as Yoel Romero, I’m not sure. He took a lot of punishment tonight. And we’ll have to evaluate and see where he wants to go with his future,” said Coker. “We’ll probably have a conversation with him in the next two weeks.”
Asked if Pitbull could still earn another shot at bantamweight gold, Coker didn’t entirely dismiss the possibility.
“If he wanted to, we’d have that conversation with him. But let’s just wait and see what he says. I don’t want to speculate on what he’s thinking. But we definitely will have that conversation. He deserves that respect. We’ll see. The kids at 35 are young and fast. Like I said maybe he’s better off at 45.”
Watch the full Bellator 297 post-fight press conference with Scott Coker above.
