Athletes
Cortavious Romious' Journey Back To The Octagon
A Loss On Dana White's Contender Series Last Year Didn't Stop Cortavious Romious From Living Out His Dream Of Being A UFC Fighter
All losses are not created equal. And though “win or learn” is the popular way to get over a bad night, sometimes, a bad night is just that. Cortavious Romious knows that feeling well after getting stopped in 29 seconds by Ramon Taveras on season seven of Dana White’s Contender Series a little over a year ago. Simply put, he got caught. It happens.
“Honestly, I go back and watch the fight and that's pretty much what happened,” he said. “I went in there and I felt like a fool. I felt stupid. I was just like, f**k it. And it showed. I didn't even do anything. I just was throwing leather and got caught.”
The loss, his first in over three years, put his quest for a UFC roster spot on a temporary hold, but in the great scheme of things, the fight did fall into the “win or learn” category, because he did learn plenty, before he even made the walk.
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“I was upset about everything that happened leading up to the fight,” Romious said. “Yeah, it's a loss, but I'm not mad. I went out on my shield, so it is what it is. Lesson learned. But it did suck, though. And the s**ttiest part was just leading up to it.”
What led up to the biggest fight of the St. Louis native’s career was the unwelcome reality that he was going into battle alone.
“I just felt like everybody was just trying to turn their back on me,” he explains. “That was really it. I had to go out there a little early to take pictures and stuff, and they (his team) didn't even want to come out there. Nobody came until Saturday, and the other one didn't come until Monday. I'm supposed to come out to Vegas and cut weight by myself with no coaches on the Contender Series? What the f**k? I was just like, damn, the biggest moment, y'all want to turn y'all backs? But it's okay. Everything happens for a reason. So I'm kind of glad that all happened and it just let me just understand that not everybody's going to have your best interest in mind. I learned a lesson in life, in general.”
Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Prates
Romious took his loss like a champ, changed camps to work with the Pura Vida BJJ squad in Milwaukee, home to fellow UFC bantamweight Montel Jackson, and moved on. After a regional win over Erik Vo in April, he got the call back to the APEX for season eight of DWCS. This time, he decisioned Michael Imperato over three rounds and got his contract.
Romious is now a UFC fighter.
“It feels good,” he said. “Now it's my turn after seeing all my buddies making it and just being there and watching. Now I'm in the shoes and it's like, let's go.”
Cortavious Romious Fighter Profile
All the way back to Vegas, where he will make his debut on Saturday against Gaston Bolanos. He’s in a statement-making mood, as he was hoping to finish Imperato in August.
“I'm not going to lie, I really wanted to finish, and it just didn't happen that night,” he said. “I'll be better. I still got s**t to work on; we all do. It’s never a rush to try to get a finish in a fight. So that was one thing I had to learn.”
There’s that, but there’s an even more important statement the 30-year-old Romious wants to make. And it’s not to the fans, the fight world, or even his opponent.
“I remember before I graduated, you had to write down what was our goals and dreams after we finished high school,” he said. “I wrote down ‘UFC champion.’ Hell yeah, I can be a champion. It ain't going to be easy, but I'm down for it. And she (the teacher) came by and looked at it, and was like, ‘Oh, come on, you got to be serious.’”
He was. And here he is in the UFC. Statement made, and it’s not even fight night yet.
UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Prates took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 12, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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