Heather Hardy given a raw deal.
Yesterday morning, at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Heather Hardy weighed in for her bout against Ana Julaton at Bellator 194. However, unbeknownst to her, Heather actually missed weight.
Officially, she weighed in at 126.25 pounds. As a result the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation will transfer 20 percent of Hardy’s total purse to Julaton. Director Mike Mazzulli told MMA Fighting. The fight is still on.
Curiously, Hardy did not know she had missed weight until alerted well after the weight in. Usually fighters are allowed to remove all clothing before stepping on the scale (covered by a suspended towel.) However, Mohegan did not allow Hardy to take advantage of this custom, and Hardy said she believed the commission was giving her a weight “allowance” as a result
“I did make the weight,” she said. “I was two ounces over and they gave me the allowance for the bikini top and bottom without making me strip in front of the room.”
Mazzulli said that he said he didn’t want her to strip down or the standard extra two hours to cut the excess weight.
“She wasn’t even speaking to me on the scale,” Mazzulli said. “I was concerned about her health and safety. I wasn’t going to put her on the scale with no clothes on and I certainly wasn’t going to let her continue cutting weight.”
But Hardy disagrees:
“I was backstage after the weigh-in hydrating and doing interviews for like an hour after…When they allowed me to go without stripping and cleared me for 126, I thought this was done. Happens in boxing all the time. They never make women strip for 2 ounces in a room full of 100 guys.”
This is a great example of why you don’t have fights in Indian Casino’s. Sure, the Nevada and California State Athletic commissions are sh*tshows, but at least they are well-practiced sh*tshows, where basic information such as knowing whether or not you have made weight is communicated.
Of course, it was Heather’s responsibility to ensure she made weight, but Mazulli’s excuses are laughable at best. The idea that he took Heather’s silence as a diagnosis that she was unable to continue cutting weight is completely ridiculous. In the end, this is another example of unfortunate but amusing incompetence at the regulatory level. All thing’s considered, we are lucky that the stakes were only part of Heather’s purse. Eventually the commissions could cost a fighter his/her life or career with incompetence concerning weight-cuts.
After their MMA fight at Bellator 194, Heather and Ana will compete in a boxing match against each other on a date and location to be determined.
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