“No one notified me,” Miscommunication costs ONE Championship fighter $50k despite making weight for strawweight fight
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Meng Bo (Image Courtesy - ONE Championship)
Former ONE Championship atomweight fighter Meng Bo recently came out and spoke about how the new rules of the promotion cost her a whopping bonus of $50k after her recent fight.
Earlier this month, Meng Bo, who previously fought at the 115-lb weight limit decided to move up a weight class and fight at strawweight. The Chinese fighter took on Jenelyn Olsim and secured one of the most amazing knockouts in the promotion. Despite knocking out her opponent in under 30 seconds, Bo wasn’t eligible for ONE Championship president Chatri Sityodtong’s $50,000 bonus.
Unfortunately, the Chinese fighter met with troubles at the weigh-in scale which cost her to fight at a catchweight bout and also be deprived of the bonus. The fighter has come out in an interview with MMA Mania and justified her reasons for the weigh-in mishap. “Maybe because I didn’t fight for a very long time…ONE, they may have changed some rules or schedules during fight week, but nobody told me,” said Bo in the interview. [h/t MMAMania]
Meng Bo believes she made weight for her 125-lb mark and only failed the hydration test ahead of the fight. “After the faceoff, they told me, ‘Okay, it’s going to be a Catchweight bout. You missed both weight and hydration tests. So, there was a lot of confusion during the process. I didn’t miss weight, I made the weight. The only thing I failed was the hydration test,” added the fighter in her interview.
Meng Bo ?? STOPS Jenelyn Olsim in 24 SECONDS in the opening bout of ONE 164! ⚡#ONE164
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 3, 2022
???????????? Live on ONE YouTube
? Live on https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/EevGHkKuoI
Meng Bo claims that she was unfamiliar with the new rules given her hiatus from fighting for the promotion. Prior to her recent fight in December, she fought at the beginning of 2022 against Tiffany Teo. “They changed a lot and most importantly, nobody told me. No one notified me before the weigh-in or to tell me what to do,” said the fighter who missed out on the $50k bonus.
What are the new ONE Championship rules for making weight?
One of the most frowned upon aspects of the sport of mixed martial arts is the process of weight-cutting. Fighters drain themselves of water and other nutrients before hitting the scales on their weigh-in day. Say a fighter competes in the middleweight division (185 pounds), they cut down several pounds of their body weight just to get the check on the scale and then size back up while fighting in the octagon. UFC commentator Joe Rogan often calls this “sanctioned cheating“.
ONE Championship has added a new weight test called the hydration test where the fighters who make weight during the first round of weigh-ins will have to also hit the mark during another hydration test. This is to prevent drastic weight-cutting from fighters. If the fighter fails one of the two tests leading up to the fight, on fight day, the individual would have to make another weigh-in.
Also read: Dana White reveals what REALLY went down behind Khamzat Chimaev’s BRUTAL weight cut
The idea behind this is to promote fighters to fight at their “walking weight”. The athlete’s weight has to be within 5 percent of their opponent’s official weight limit. Meng Bo, who claims was not aware of the rules, was forced to either cancel the bout and offer 20% of her purse to the opponent or fight at catchweight.
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Prateek Athanur
(2968 Articles Published)