Yoel Romero, Phil Davis Booked for Bellator San Jose Event in September

Yoel Romero will make his Bellator debut against Phil Davis on Sept. 18, sources told @MikeCoppinger after an initial report by Ariel Helwani. pic.twitter.com/KnGmd2gGeQ

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 13, 2021

Bellator MMA is coming home.

Two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero is finally making his long-awaited Bellator debut as the Cuban will face fellow UFC vet Phil Davis in the main event of an upcoming Bellator event that will go down in San Jose, California, on Sept. 18. The news was first reported by Ariel Helwani before being confirmed in a press release issued by Bellator Friday afternoon.

Romero (13-5, 0-0 Bellator) was supposed to take part in the light heavyweight Grand Prix, where he was slated to fight Anthony Johnson at Bellator 257 before the fight was rescheduled for Bellator 258. However, an eye issue caused the “Soldier of God” to fail his medicals and his spot in the tournament was taken by Jose Augusto. Romero has been waiting to make his promotional debut since December when he parted ways with the UFC with three fights left on his deal. In his last fight under the UFC banner, he dropped a decision to Israel Adesanya in the 185-pound championship headliner at UFC 248.

Former 205-pound kingpin Davis (22-5-1NC, 9-3 Bellator) is currently looking to bounce back following his recent defeat at the hands of Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 257. That night, he failed to recapture the light heavyweight championship after the Russian outpointed him. “Mr. Wonderful” earned a title shot following a trio of wins over Liam McGeary at Bellator 220, Karl Albrektsson at Bellator 231 and Lyoto Machida at Bellator 245.