Kanadensiska Maximum Fighting Championship annonserade redan innan sin senaste gala att deras lättviktsmästare Antonio ”Mandingo” McKee (27-4-2) blivit fråntagen sin titel och att hans kontrakt skulle klippas efter hans match. Anledningen till beslutet var att McKee kommit in 7 pounds för tung till invägningarna inför galan.
“It was unacceptable behavior for a champion to demonstrate. On top of that, Antonio never really apologized for missing weight that badly. That was the end of things for him with the MFC,” menar MFCs vd Mark Pavelich i ett pressmeddelande. “That’s why he was stripped of his belt immediately and told that he would never fight in the MFC again. I hope it’s a message to all the other fighters in the MFC.”.
McKee tog efter tre ronders kamp sin 16:e vinst via enhälligt domslut och efteråt har det framkommit att det var besvär med njurarna som satte stopp för viktminskningen för den 41-årige fajtern.
“[Pavelich] knew I wasn’t going to make weight before the fight because I told him I wasn’t going to make weight. I was sick. I had f—ing kidney issues. My stomach was messed up. They already knew that,” säger McKee till Sherdog. “I called Brian Cobb and told him that I wasn’t going to make weight and that he wouldn’t be fighting for the title,” McKee said. “The surprise to me was that Brian Cobb didn’t make weight. He stepped on the scale first, and he was a half-pound over. I stepped on the scale and weighed 159.8 pounds [before the weigh-in]. I started rehydrating, because my organs were starting to give me issues, and I weighed in at 162.”.
Vidare menar McKee att han bad om ursäkt för att han missade vikten men att orsaken till att han fick lämna organisationen är andra än de uppgivna.
“The problem is that Mark Pavelich doesn’t have anyone who can beat me, and it costs him a lot of money to bring in guys to fight me. That’s the real reason why I’m not in the MFC, because he can’t afford me anymore,” menar McKee.
Vad nästa steg blir för den självsäkre forne mästaren är i dagsläget oklart.
