Yoel Romero still is dangerous at 47, and he showed it in the main event of Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing Championship event on Saturday.
After former UFC fighter and BKFC star Perry unveiled plans for his own promotion earlier this year, Dirty Boxing Championship put on its inaugural card Friday with a private event in Miami that was barely promoted and did not stream online.
The likes of UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Power Slap’s Paige VanZant and more were ringside for the eight-fight card, which features a ruleset that allows punches and elbows from the clinch, as well as strikes on a downed opponent.
Former UFC and Bellator title challenger Romero headlined, and he quickly dismantled an overmatched Duane Crespo, who folded after a huge punch early in the opening round of the heavyweight contest.
It was Romero’s first combat sports bout since he defeated Thiago Santos at a PFL event in February, and he’s disappeared from the scene in recent months. He re-emerged looking in ridiculous shape for the bout with Crespo, and proved he still packs a heck of a punch with the highlight-reel knockout.
“I told everyone this was going to be something special and goddamn I was not wrong,” Perry said of the event in a press release. “I knew these rules would make for crazy fights. Every single one of them was a banger. Things got dirty in there for real. We’ve worked super hard on this for a long time now and I couldn’t be happier with how this event turned out. I am 100 percent positive now that fight fans are going to love this.”
Check out complete results from Dirty Boxing Championship below:
- Yoel Romero def. Duane Crespo via knockout – Round 1
- Solomon Renfro def. Jeremiah Truhlar via unanimous decision
- Rob Perez def. Fabio Cherant via knockout – Round 1
- Maike Linhares def. Eddie Perez Bruno via unanimous decision
- Anvar Boynazarov def. Thiago Belo via knockout – Round 2
- Corey Jackson def. Chris Burton via knockout – Round 2
- Claudia Zamora def. Monica Medina via knockout – Round 1
- Guilherme Bastos def. Tyler Scott via decision
