The noted UFC star, Khamzat Chimaev, lost several fans after missing weight for his UFC 279 bout. The Chechen fighter had to face the wrath of several followers after he came out almost 8.5 lbs overweight than the Welterweight limit of 170 lbs for his bout against Nate Diaz. This instance might be enough to realize that weight misses are quite unforgivable in the UFC. However, fans were subjected to another such incident prior to UFC 291.
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The touted UFC 291 bout between Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Michael Pereira fell flat as the latter weighed in three pounds more than the Welterweight limit. However, Thompson stayed prompt on his part and fulfilled all the prerequisites for the bout. Most fans might have noticed fighters getting paid even after their fights fell apart since they had shown up to the fight.
This was probably in Thompson’s head as well, while he wanted the UFC boss, Dana White, to pay him his “show money”. But in a recent press meet, White revealed that there are a lot of other conditions to get paid even after the cancellation of a fight.
Stephen Thompson declines to fight after his opponent missed weight
Notably, at UFC Vegas 71, the UFC Featherweight, Tamires Vidal, went on to fight her opponent, Ramona Pascual, even after the latter missed her weight. In such cases, the UFC deducts about 20% of the fight purse of the fighter who missed weight and adds it to their opponent’s purse.
But, this clearly won’t be the case here as ‘Wonderboy’ denied fighting his UFC 291 opponent, Michael Pereira. On the day of his fight, i.e. 29 July, Thompson put out a post on his Instagram account revealing how an opponent fighting after missing weight was a “significant competitive advantage”.
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He also implied that he had no intentions of fighting an opponent who had missed weight by putting his “health and career” at risk. However, In a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s noted podcast, ‘The MMA Hour’, he revealed that he had received “nothing yet” from the UFC for showing up to the fight.
‘Wonderboy’ expected to receive a part of his fight purse from the UFC, like a lot of other cases witnessed to date. But, it won’t be wrong to say that he looked a bit disappointed by the UFC’s approach regarding the issue.
He also revealed that his management was in talks with Dana White but they haven’t been fruitful yet.
Dana White’s comments on Stephen Thompson’s issue
The UFC head honcho, Dana White, appeared at a press conference lately, where he received a question about the same issue. However, White revealed that “There’s a lot of different ways” in which the decision of paying the “show money” to a fighter “gets worked out“.
He also detailed, “If you decide you don’t wanna take the fight, we also offer them another fight. You just don’t show up and say, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna fight. I want a quarter of a million dollars’. That’s not how the way it works.”
White further stated if the fighter refuses the replacement fight as well, then the UFC authorities “try to figure out what did it cost you for your camp” and “reimburse” the expenses. But he looked really negative regarding Thompson’s issue as he depicted the situation, stating, “Yeah, this guy is three pounds over, I’m not gonna fight. And no, I won’t take another fight two weeks later and pay me my show money. Not how it works.”
He also revealed the terms of the contract stating, “You don’t fight, you don’t get paid necessarily in the contract”. Finally, the UFC head honcho gave out an exact date. He said, “It’s being worked out behind the scenes and this should all be worked out by Saturday”. Needless to say, a number of fans are now awaiting “Saturday” to finally witness the result of these ongoing negotiations.
Watch this Story – Stephen Thompson Reveals Dana Is Yet to Pay Him
