Romero awarded $27M in lawsuit over tainted supplement
Yoel Romero has been awarded $27.45 million after winning his lawsuit against Gold Star Performance Products, who made the tainted supplement that caused the UFC middleweight to fail a 2015 drug test, his manager Abe Kawa announced Tuesday, per ESPN's Ariel Helwani and Marc Raimondi.
Kawa is unsure if his client will receive close to the full amount as Gold Star never communicated with the court, but he believes Romero will pocket at least $5 million.
For Romero, the lawsuit was more about restoring his reputation than money.
"I'm very happy," Romero said. "It's not about the money. I'm very happy now that everything is clean and more clear. You cannot live very well when you hear and you see when you post something (on social media) people reply 'Soldier of Steroids.' You cannot sleep very well. ... It's very emotional and important, too, because I know I've never taken anything in my life."
The 42-year-old struck a deal with the United States Anti-Doping Agency for a six-month suspension instead of the standard nine-month ban after threatening to bring his case to arbitration.
Romero spent nearly a year away from the Octagon after his failed test following UFC 194 in December 2015, returning to beat Chris Weidman via knockout in November 2016.
The Cuban's next fight is versus Paulo Costa at UFC 241 on August 17 in Anaheim, Calif.