Yoel Romero has been hit with a 60 day suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission for his post-fight celebration at UFC 205 earlier this month.
After KO’ing former champion Chris Weidman at the Madison Square Garden event in New York City, ‘The Soldier Of God’ celebrated by leaping over the Octagon fence and then marching around the outside of the cage while saluting the fans in attendance.
Exiting the Octagon before the official result is read out is illegal under NYSAC rules and so the 39 year-old gets a two month suspension that will keep him out of action until January 12th of next year.
That won’t effect Romero however, as he wasn’t booked to fight during that time period anyway.
This is the latest in a number of unexpected suspensions being dished out by the NYSAC in the wake of UFC 205, with Kelvin Gastelum having been banned for 6 months for failing to turn up to the pre-fight weigh-ins, while Thiago Alves has been forced to sit out for 3 months for failing to make the lightweight limit.
Some people have expressed surprise at the fact that NYSAC is handing out suspensions like this given that other commissions generally have a hands-off approach regarding matters like this, and Gastelum’s camp have already stated that they will be appealing his punishment.
