“I wasn’t prepared how I would like to be prepared to take the fight, but, at the same time, I’vebeen training my whole life just waiting for my moment to jump in the big show,” he said. “So my coach and me, we said, ‘F**k it, let’s do it,’ because this is the moment. I really believed that if God is going to give me something, it’s because I really deserve it.”
After starting his pro career with a 1-2 record, Romero did deserve his shot, thanks to a 7-1-1 run fighting mostly in the Combate Global promotion. And with the work he had been doing in California with Colin Oyama and company, everything came together at the perfect time, even if the timing of less than a week wasn’t perfect. Yet on the trip to New York City, Romero was confident of upsetting Onama, and with his teammate and fellow UFC prospect Fernando Padilla along to corner him, spirits were high.
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“He has been giving me a lot of advice since I got here in California,” said Romero of Padilla.“And that night, he was telling me all the time, stay calm, stay composed, set up your big shots, everything. I was listening to him, and honestly, every (piece of) advice he gave me was very useful that night, and right now, it’s still the same. I keep listening to him when I have to listen to him, and the same with my other coaches. I really think that’s a very important key in the game. Listen to your coaches and to your corner. So yeah, I am really glad that he was there because he kept me focused all the time.”
That focus showed on fight night, and in a situation where Romero had every excuse to not perform to the best of his ability, he took the fight to the heavily favored Onama, even dropping him in the opening round. But Onama would storm back and take over the fight as Romero’s late-notice cardio caught up to him. The decision for the Ugandan was unanimous, and Romero does wonder how things would have been different had he took a different tact after scoring that early knockdown.
