Anthony Romero must have been getting used to being overlooked, after being snubbed on both Dana White’s Contender Series and the PFL Challenger Series.
This Friday at PFL 6, however, Romero (12-1), one of the top rising talents in Canadian MMA, finally arrives. Stepping up as an injury replacement, the lightweight has been paired up with 2022 champ Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who has not suffered a loss since exiting the UFC a couple of years back.
In a recent interview with Cageside Press, Romero explained how it all went down.
“I guess going back from February, we all know that I didn’t get selected. Nothing new there, second time,” Romero recalled. “But I didn’t get selected, I was supposed to be a replacement for maybe like a showcase bout, something like that. So it was just all about being patient, and hoping that, not in a bad way, but hoping that someone would get hurt or not be able to make the fight so I could step in.”
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride comes to mind when you think about Romero. Being passed over on multiple occasions might bother some fighters, but “The Genius” is nothing if not mentally sound.
“You still have the goal in mind. I think that’s the, I guess you could say, the motivation, that you have the goal in mind. You don’t just stop because someone says no,” noted Romero. “All the greatest people in the world that have ever done something with their life have always ran into the word ‘no’ and kept pushing forward, and something came out of it. So you gotta keep pushing, and that’s what happened.”
Of course, another way of looking at Romero’s main event fight at PFL 6 is that it basically landed in his lap. As he put it, “I didn’t really do anything. I fought, I didn’t get selected, and it’s kind of funny because the same thing with the Contender Series, I fought, I felt like I had a great performance, I didn’t get selected. So when I tried, I didn’t get picked, and I guess when I didn’t try, I got picked.”
Some would call this a no-lose situation for Romero, and a dangerous fight for OAM. Romero’s own mindset is that “this is the greatest opportunity I could have to show my skillset against you can say the top guy, one of the top guys in the world.”
“I beat this guy, I’m the new champ. I’m the guy everyone wants to beat. And that’s good, that’s good for me. This is the position I’ve been fighting for for many years, and I’m glad the opportunity finally popped up.”
Of course, Romero won’t actually be the champ — that’s not how the PFL works. And he’s been paired up with the only other Canadian fighter in the promotion, aside from women’s featherweight Julia Budd. Of all the fights to land, he’s fighting the one other Canadian he possibly could fight.
“Unfortunately yeah. I have no negative energy towards him or hate him or anything like that. That’s the way the format is,” said Romero, who actually likes the format because it takes the politics out of fighting. “I like it personally, because there’s no guys that will be like ‘no I’m not fighting this guy because he’s not close to my ranking.'”
“This would never happen, so far anyways, in the UFC. I would not get signed to the UFC and be fighting Islam Makhachev. He’s not going to say yes, he’s not going to agree to it,” noted Romero. “And that’s the thing that I like about this. Everyone fights everyone, you’re signed, you don’t really get a say in who you fight, and that’s the way it is.”
Watch our full interview with PFL 6 headliner Anthony Romero above. The event takes place this Friday, June 23, 2023 at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, GA.
