Former Top UFC Superstar Pondering Return, Yoel Romero Injury Update, Bellator Countdown

By Dana Becker

- This Friday night, Matt Mitrione and Roy Nelson meet in the second Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal live on Paramount Network. The two headline Bellator 194, which takes place from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Mitrione and Nelson will be trying to join Chael Sonnen in the semifinals after Sonnen scored a decision victory vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson last month. This is also a rematch of a bout contested in the UFC won by Nelson.

Ahead of their fight, go behind-the-scenes and in-training with both Mitrione and Nelson in the first installment of Bellator 194: Countdown.

- For now, Urijah Faber is enjoying retirement and running his Team Alpha Male gym in California. However, the former multi-time UFC title challenger and ex-WEC champion did disclose that he is still in the USADA testing pool and could return for the right fight.

"Look, I spent a lot of time getting really great at fighting and i'm able-bodied and healthy," Faber said in an interview with Submission Radio (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). "I train just as much or more than some of the guys that are active but it's not my goal (to come back), necessarily. It's just the habits that I've created in my life. I would say I'm always open to entertain any business opportunity or offer, and I love to do things that I love to do, so I'm not gonna cut anything out. I still get tested from USADA just because I've never taken drugs in my life so I don't really care about that.

"It's well worth it. The difference is, if there was a big opportunity and someone wanted you to fight and it sounded like a good idea, I wouldn't want to wait four months to get cleared when I'm not doing drugs anyway. So I'll take one for the team on a 6 a.m. wake-up call. I've got it down pat anyways. I pretty much sleep through the whole thing aside from when I'm giving the urine sample."

In late 2016, Faber announced his retirement following a win over Brad Pickett. The 38-year-old "California Kid" owns UFC bantamweight division records for wins (nine), finishes (six) and submissions (six). He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame last year.

- Yoel Romero earned a signature win when he stopped Luke Rockhold in the third round this past Saturday night at UFC 221. Even though Romero missed weight and was ruled ineligible for the interim middleweight title, he likely solidified himself as the No. 1 contender to Robert Whittaker.

As he exited the Octagon, though, the Olympic silver medalist was shown limping and told the post-fight show on FS1 that he believed he "broke" his leg during the first round. Abraham Kawa, the manager for Romero, confirmed that the fighter did not suffer a broken leg.

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