Yoel Romero has upset a lot of people with his retirement message to Tim Kennedy

He probably meant well.

Ben Kiely

Yoel Romero has upset a lot of people with his retirement message to Tim Kennedy

Surely Yoel Romero was prepared for these type of responses when he hit send.

Tim Kennedy called time on his MMA career this week after over a decade and a half in the sport. He had competed in the sport for over a decade and a half, finishing with 24 pro fights under his belt including two world title fights for the Strikeforce middleweight championship.

He blessed fans with several spectacular performances inside the cage and has some notable scalps on his record including Robbie Lawler and Michael Bisping, both of which would go on to become UFC champions. However, after suffering a TKO loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 205, the 37-year-old Green Beret decided that 2017 was the year to hang up his gloves for good.

There was an outpouring of supportive messages for Kennedy following his big announcement, including one that came from an unlikely source, former foe and current number one contender Yoel Romero.

@TimKennedyMMA I hope you enjoy your retirement and it was a pleasure competing against you #GodBless #ynuevo

— Peoples Champ (@YoelRomeroMMA) January 17, 2017

This comment came as a huge surprise considering the fallout from their controversial fight at UFC 178. Kennedy was on the cusp of finishing “the Soldier of God” in the second round, but the buzzer appeared to save the Cuban.

After receiving treatment from his corner for a cut over his eye, a heavy-breathing Romero took his time getting out of his stool. He remained sitting even after the buzzer had sounded for a number of seconds. Joe Rogan, who was calling the fight, could hardly believe what he was seeing.

“Romero’s corner is purposely slowly walking out. They still have the stool in there! What are they doing? He’s still sitting on the stool!”

“This is ridiculous! Why isn’t he standing up? Why haven’t they got that stool out of there? No, he’s not done, but what they’re doing is they’ve still save him some time. They gave him an extra 15/20 seconds.”

Romero did eventually get out of his stool and rocked Kennedy early in the third. He got the TKO finish at the 0:58 mark of the final round, but afterwards Kennedy was still clearly annoyed that he was allowed extra time to recover.