Anthony
Romero now gets his chance to knock a crown off a king.
“The Genius” will take on defending
Professional Fighters League lightweight championship
Olivier
Aubin-Mercier when they headline
PFL 6 this Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Romero
enters the cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak. He
last competed on the PFL Challenger Series in February, when he
laid claim to a unanimous decision over
Antonio
Caruso across three rounds. Aubin-Mercier, meanwhile, has
rattled off seven consecutive victories. The
Tristar Gym rep last fought on April 14, when he outpointed
Shange Burgos to a unanimous verdict at PFL 3.
As Romero and Aubin-Mercier make final preparations in advance of
their forthcoming battle at 155 pounds, a look at some of the
numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
26: Years of age for Romero, who was born on Feb. 25, 1997 in
Welland, Ontario.
3: Romero wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
25% of his career total (12). His list of victims:
Kenn Glenn,
Jacob
Miller and
Juan Roman.
Romero owns one other win by submission (8%)—he dispatched
Elijah
Harris with a third-round rear-naked choke under the
King of
the Cage flag in 2018—and eight more by decision (67%).
58: Seconds needed for Romero to punch out Miller at Ohio Combat
League 7 on March 7, 2020. More than three years later, it remains
his fastest finish to date.
7: Consecutive calendar years in which Romero has fought at least
once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2023, he went 1-0 in 2017, 3-0
in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 3-0 in 2020, 1-1 in 2021 and 1-0 in 2022.
30: Combined victories between the opponents—Caruso, Glenn and
Nico
Echeverry—Romero has beaten during his current three-fight
winning streak. They sport a cumulative .625 winning percentage at
30-18.
34: Years of age for Aubin-Mercier, who was born in Montreal on
Feb. 23, 1989.
8: Aubin-Mercier victories by submission, accounting for 44% of his
career total (18). His methods of choice: seven rear-naked chokes
and one inverted triangle kimura. Aubin-Mercier holds two other
victories by knockout or technical knockout (12%) and eight more by
decision (44%).
1,427: Days since Aubin-Mercier last tasted defeat. He dropped a
unanimous decision to
Arman
Tsarukyan at UFC 240 on July 27, 2019.
46: Rounds completed by Aubin-Mercier as a professional mixed
martial artist. He has gone the distance on 13 different occasions
and carries an 8-5 record in those bouts.
.750: Cumulative winning percentage between the opponents—Burgos,
Steven
Ray,
Alex
Martinez,
Raush
Manfio,
Natan
Schulte,
Darrell
Horcher and
Marcin
Held—Aubin-Mercier has defeated during his current run of seven
straight victories. They boast a combined record of 133-44-1.