Yoel Romero is preparing for his Bellator debut -- again.
The former UFC star will fight Phil Davis on Sept. 18 at SAP Center in San Jose, California, sources tell ESPN. The light heavyweight bout will be televised by Showtime.
Romero (13-5) was set to fight another former UFC title challenger, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, on May 7, but he failed to clear prefight medical testing due to an eye injury.
The 44-year-old was released from UFC in December and quickly linked up with Bellator. The Cuban's final fight in the Octagon was in March 2020, a decision defeat to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight championship at UFC 248.
The setback was Romero's third consecutive loss, all against top-flight competition. The other two defeats -- vs. Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker -- were also via decision.
Romero experienced weight issues in the UFC, twice failing to meet the middleweight limit of 185 ahead of title fights. In Bellator, he'll compete at 205 pounds.
Despite his background as an Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling, Romero displayed devastating power in the Octagon. He scored knockouts of Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Lyoto Machida and Derek Brunson.
In Davis, he'll meet another former UFC combatant (and another accomplished wrestler). Davis (22-6) was an NCAA Division 1 champion at Penn State and quickly turned pro. His UFC résumé includes wins over Machida and Glover Teixeira. His three losses in the Octagon came against Johnson, Rashad Evans and Ryan Bader.
The 36-year-old won the Bellator light heavyweight championship with a decision over Liam McGeary but dropped the title in his next fight, another split-decision defeat to Bader.
Davis is coming off a loss to Vadim Nemkov in April. His fight with Romero will be part of a Showtime combat sports doubleheader.
Earlier that night, PBC will stage the 122-pound title unification between Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa in Las Vegas on "Showtime Championship Boxing."
MMA reporter Ariel Helwani first reported news of the Romero-Davis fight.