Shogun Rua's comeback cancelled as Yoel Romero names new opponent for GFL debut
03/19/2025 11:54 AM
Yoel Romero’s next fight is a step-up in competition from Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.
A three-time title challenger in UFC and Bellator, Yoel Romero was initially scheduled to face former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Shogun Rua upon his entry in the GFL, a new MMA promotion.
The GFL signed many former UFC stars past their prime like Urijah Faber, 45, Tony Ferguson, 41; the powerful Romero still fighting on at 47 years old and in tremendous shape.
Unfortunately for Romero, he won’t be sharing the GFL cage with the UFC Hall of Famer Rua after all.
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Yoel Romero announces new fight against Gegard Mousasi
Instead of Shogun, ‘The Soldier of God’ now has an arguably much tougher challenge in front of him with former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi.
Originally booked at light heavyweight, Romero confirms this matchup will go down at 185lbs. Romero hasn’t competed in the middleweight division since a lackluster title fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC 248 back in 2020.
“Shogun is out. Now, I move for middleweight again and I will fight Gegard Mousasi,” Romero told Submission Radio on Thursday. “It’s June 22 in New York [City].
“I don’t know what happened to Shogun, but my manager call me last week and say, hey, it’s bad news… He said, Shogun is out, and now you move to middleweight again. I say, okay, beautiful. I’m ready. Who is the guy? He says Gegard Mousasi… OK, we got it.”
Gegard Mousasi isn’t Yoel Romero’s next opponent
Yoel Romero’s actually double-booked with fights at the moment, set to collide with former PFL, Bellator fighter Ras Hylton in Mike Perry’s ‘Dirty Boxing’ promotion this weekend a few months out from his newly-announced bout with Mousasi.
Romero picked up a first-round knockout at Dirty Boxing’s inaugural event in November. In Dirty Boxing, Romero’s only allowed to use his arms to strike: elbows, punches, slaps, which suits his aggressive fighting style well.
Last year, Mousasi had a dramatic fallout with the PFL following their acquisition of Bellator and the former champion was eventually granted his release from the promotion.
Entering the GFL off the heels of free agency, Mousasi is coming off back-to-back losses to the undefeated Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards, brother of former UFC Champ Leon Edwards.
Mousasi’s last fight came in May 2023. He left the UFC with a winning record of 9-3 in 2017 (after some brutal dealings) and went on to become a two-time champion in Bellator. The 39-year-old Mousasi has wins over Rory Macdonald, Lyoto Machida, Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort and more.
His opponent Yoel Romero owns a similar resume, sharing common opponents in Thiago Santos, Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida.
