YOEL ROMERO HAS been hit with a 60-day ban from competition by the New York State Athletic Commission.
The punishment has been handed down to the middleweight contender due to the manner in which he celebrated defeating New York native Chris Weidman at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden earlier this month.
After stopping Weidman with a vicious KO in the early stages of the third round, Romero jumped out of the octagon and marched around its perimeter, before re-entering the octagon for the announcement of the result and his post-fight interview.
However, the New York commission prohibits exiting the fighting area before a contest has officially ended so Romero has been handed a 60-day suspension, as reported by Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com.
The NYSAC has already handed out two other unusual suspensions relating to UFC 205. Kelvin Gastelum’s fight with Donald Cerrone was cancelled after Gastelum failed to make weight and subsequently didn’t show up to step on the scales.
He has been banned for six months — a suspension which he is appealing — while Thiago Alves has received a three-month ban for missing weight by 6.6 pounds for his lightweight bout with Jim Miller, which Alves lost via unanimous decision.
Romero’s win over Weidman was his eighth in a row in the UFC and it looks set to earn him a title shot against Michael Bisping. With his suspension due to end as soon as 12 January, it’s unlikely to affect his status as the 185lbs division’s number one contender.
Although an official announcement has yet to be made, a tweet from the 39-year-old Cuban yesterday yesterday appeared to indicate that his clash with Bisping may take place on 21 January.