UFC Sao Paulo is down a fight following Friday’s weigh-ins, and lightweight Vinc Pichel has now shed some light on why.
The obvious answer is that Pichel’s opponent, Ismael Bonfim, missed weight, coming in at 3.5lbs over the lightweight non-title limit at 159.5lbs.
Of course, more often than not, such misses at the scale result in a penalty to the offending fighter — delivered to his or her opponent — and a catchweight bout. Not so in Sao Paulo, however, with Pichel declining to take the modified fight.
After news broke that the fight was pulled from the card, “From Hell” Pichel opened up about why he decided to turn a catchweight pairing with Bonfim down.
“So as you know my fight in cancelled. My opponent didn’t even try to make weight so I decided to take away his ability to fight and make money for this unprofessionalism which I’m sure he regrets,” wrote Pichel, who has fought for the UFC for over a decade now. “I am huge on self responsibility and he showed none by his actions and by missing weight by so much so I decided to give him some for his actions. I’m sorry to everyone who was excited to watch me throw down and also happy to ruin parlays against me at the same time. In my 15+ year career I have never missed weight.”
“If you are upset about my decision, I’m sorry but there is no one else to blame but my opponent. You will see me fight again soon!”
Vinc Pichel was looking to bounce back from a loss against Mark O. Madsen in the bout, which had snapped a three-fight win streak. Despite his lengthy tenure with the company, the 40-year old has fought just 10 times since arriving under the UFC banner in 2012.
UFC Sao Paulo now moves forward with the following match-ups:
- Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Nicolas Dalby
- Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Don’Tale Mayes
- Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Elves Brener vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
- Vitor Petrino vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Angela Hill vs. Denise Gomes
- Eduarda Moura vs. Montserrat Ruiz
- Kauê Fernandes vs. Marc Diakiese
