According to a press release from ML Management, former Olympic silver wrestling Medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games and 1999 World Champion Yoel Romero has signed a five-fight contract with Strikeforce. As previously reported, his first bout in the organization will take place at the semi-finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix where he'll face former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael Cavalcante. That bout will be September 10th at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"I'm excited about this opportunity," said Romero. "I've wanted to prove my skills in MMA for a long time and to get the opportunity to that with a person of Feijao's caliber is exciting."
In addition to the previous wrestling accolades aforementioned, Romero (a native of Cuba) also boasts two silver and two bronze finishes at the World Championships in amateur wrestling.
Notably, Romero is 34 years old and perhaps approaching the end of his athletic prime. He's also faced notably subpar MMA competition in only four fights. However, in that short time his athletic pedigree and wrestling prowess have already been on display. This is nowhere truer than in his fight with Michal Fijalka where he completed a one-handed ankle pick which can be seen at 5:39 in the following video:
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