Yoel Romero vs Rumble Johnson Betting Odds are Almost Even

Anytime you have two prolific finishers who can end the fight with a single punch, anything can happen.

That’s what we’re getting on April 16th when former UFC title challengers Yoel Romero and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson face off in the opening round of Bellator’s light heavyweight Grand Prix.

The betting lines for a Romero vs Johnson bout opened as early as late November when these two former UFC stars signed with the Viacom-owned promotion one after the other. Romero opened as the -175 betting favorite at online sportsbook BetOnline with Johnson coming back at +155. By December, the lines were a little closer at -155 to +135, still in favor of the Cuban. But after their matchup was announced on Tuesday, the odds have narrowed even further.

As of February 9th, Romero is still slightly favored to beat Johnson at -120 against -110. But we all know that with those odds, this is anybody’s fight to win.

Three Straight Losses

After spending nearly seven years with the promotion, the UFC released Romero in December 2020. He was coming off a unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 248. Although that was Romero’s third straight loss and his fourth in his last five bouts, three of those defeats came in title fights and three of them were close calls.

It didn’t help that the Soldier of God was already 43 years of age and couldn’t win the gold after four opportunities. But it wasn’t that Romero didn’t have anything left. In fact, he didn’t look a bit his age when we last saw him fight.

Going to Bellator was a no-brainer. While most will argue that Romero is past his prime, there was no doubt that he was still one of the top middleweight contenders in the UFC at the time of his departure. Romero was one of the most athletic fighters ever in the UFC and he still has the explosiveness and power that made him one of the most dangerous opponents in the promotion.

Coming Out of Retirement

While Romero is coming off a three-fight losing streak, Anthony Johnson is coming out of a three-year retirement. Like Romero, Johnson fought multiple times for the UFC belt but failed to win it. In Rumble’s case, he fought Daniel Cormier twice for the UFC light heavyweight title, losing rear-naked choke on both instances. He retired after his second loss to Cormier at UFC 210 in 2017.

Rumble has not fought in three years and that could be worse than having a three-fight losing streak. That’s the biggest argument that you can make to put Yoel Romero as the slightest of betting favorites in this Bellator brawl. Although Romero’s most recent fight was way back in March 2020, Johnson’s last bout was eons ago. That doesn’t mean though that Johnson can’t stop Romero. He certainly has the power to do so with just one punch.