Yoel Romero burns Michael Bisping-Union Jack photo in response to flag-ripping incident

Although Michael Bisping and Yoel Romero won’t be fighting anytime soon, their relationship continues to grow more hostile.

Romero (12-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Robert Whittaker (19-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 213 pay-per-view headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Had Romero won the interim middleweight title fight, it would have set up a title-unification bout with champ Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) once he recovers from a knee injury.

Despite Romero and Whittaker putting on a “Fight of the Night” affair, one of the most memorable moments from the UFC 213 headliner came from outside the octagon. Bisping was seated cageside near Romero’s corner for the bout, and at one point decided to rip up a Cuban flag (via Twitter):

To the surprise of few, Bisping’s actions drew the ire of “The Soldier of God” when he was asked about it during UFC 213’s post-fight news conference (via Instagram):

??@yoelromeromma did not take kindly to @mikebisping ripping up the ???? flag during #UFC213 main event • • • ?? @1khathaway – @usatodaysports

A post shared by MMAjunkie (@mmajunkiedotcom) on Jul 9, 2017 at 7:55am PDT

Bisping has harshly criticized Romero as he’s attempted to climb the middleweight ranks and get a title shot against the Brit. He’s relentlessly labeled Romero a cheater after the Cuban was handed a potential USADA violation in January 2016 before tainted supplements were proven to blame for the failed test.

Romero has rolled out some smaller potshots at Bisping but has largely taken the high road. That ended today, when Romero fired back – literally – at Bisping by burning a photo of the UFC champ with the Union Jack and posted it on social media (via Instagram):

@mikebisping "Im burning you and your flag for disrespecting my flag" #imyourbigticket #iseeyousoonboy #havanaclub @daccigars #ufc #fire #soldierofgod #cuba????@UFC

A post shared by Yoel Romero (@yoelromeromma) on Jul 10, 2017 at 12:43am PDT

It’s clear the bad blood between Romero and Bisping isn’t going away. However, whether they will ever have an opportunity to settle the score inside the octagon remains to be seen.

For more on UFC 213, check out the UFC Events section of the site.