Luke Rockhold says it was ‘ridiculous’ for Yoel Romero to kiss him on cheek at UFC 221

Yoel Romero stepped across the line after his knockout win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.

Shortly after crumpling Rockhold with a monster left hand in the third round, ‘Soldier of God’ walked over to a very disorientated Rockhold, pushed his head into his face and kissed him on the cheek.

It might sound like a bit of harmless fun, but Romero shouldn’t have been allowed to put his hands on a KO’d opponent so shortly after the win, and Rockhold didn’t exactly give consent.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on a recent edition of The MMA Hour, Rockhold called Romero’s actions at UFC 221 ‘ridiculous’ and believes the Cuban-born fighter is ‘a bit fake’.

“For him to come across the cage like that, it’s just ridiculous for them to let him do that,” Rockhold said, per MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi. “Not a big fan of how he carries himself. He’s a bit fake. I’m not really saying how I feel. I am who I am. Like it or hate it.”

The interim middleweight title was supposed to be on the line for both fighters at UFC 221 but, after Romero missed weight by 1.7 pounds, only Rockhold was eligible to win the belt.

Rockhold, though, had weight cutting issues of his own and says he didn’t feel himself in the main event. The Californian is expected to make a permanent move to the light heavyweight division in the coming months.

“Yoel felt strong,” he said. “He felt big. I didn’t feel my best.… The weight cuts are getting to me these days.

“The man felt like cement. I thought I could really take his movement and force him to wrestle more, but that really wasn’t the case… I had to work around my kicks. I just didn’t put it together like I should have.”

Rockhold, a former UFC middleweight champion, dropped to No. 3 in the official middleweight rankings and has teased at a light heavyweight bout against Alexander Gustafsson.

Romero, 40, is expected to rematch current middleweight champ Robert Whittaker at UFC 225on June 9 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.