Darren Till and Yoel Romero had to be forced apart by security their face-off ran beyond three tense minutes as the ex-UFC pair set the tone for their dream match in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).
Liverpudlian Till, 33, is making his second outing for the Conor McGregor-owned bare-knuckle promotion after securing a knockout win of Aaron Chalmers, once of Geordie Shore fame, in his debut in May.
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The former UFC title contender now clashes with someone he once shared the middleweight rankings with in Romero, who at 49 continues to prove his reputation as a physical specimen.
After trading barbs in their press conference in Manchester, the fighters took to the stage to close out the show with a customary face-off – and while there were no fireworks in the sense of a physical clash, it snatched attention for a completely different reason.
Romero slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with Till, with their stare not broken for a total of three minutes and 28 seconds.
Yoel Romero (left) takes off his glasses as the stare-down intensifies (BKFC)
BKFC’s live stream of the press conference went off the air before the pair went their separate ways, each man refusing to be the first one to break eye contact.
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As the on-stage security tried to usher Till backwards towards the stage, the Scouser continued to stare at Romero and bowed towards him before, at long last, turning his head to depart.
Many of those in attendance admitted it was the longest face-off they’d ever seen.
Romero could be seen speaking to Till during the face-off, though the Cuban remained coy over what was said.
“We didn’t really talk much, I just told him that this isn’t a game and I did not come here to play,” Romero told The Independent through an interpreter, having spent the entire press conference refusing to bow to Till’s demands for him to speak in English.
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“I was looking right through him. I could’ve been there all day. I came here to Manchester to win.”
Romero was a major threat at the top of the middleweight division during his time in the UFC. He had three opportunities at the gold and beat Luke Rockhold with the interim belt on the line in 2018 – but wasn’t eligible to become champion due to missing weight
The Cuban only made his UFC debut at the age of 36, having won Olympic silver in wrestling at Sydney 2000, and has remarkably continued to remain active for Bellator, RAF and other bare-knuckle promotions as he approaches 50.
Cuban physical specimen Romero has remained remarkably active as he approaches 50 (BKFC)
Till, meanwhile, has experienced a rejuvenation outside the UFC, where his mesmeric rise to a welterweight title shot was followed by a sharp decline where he lost five fights in six.
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He went unbeaten in three fights for Misfits, most notably finishing former UFC champion Rockhold, and now intends to go on a similarly dominant run for BKFC.
The pair will throw down at the AO Arena on 26 September.
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