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On Friday morning ahead of UFC Paris, Patricio Freire and Losene Keita weighed in before their featherweight clash. The debuting Keita biffed the weight cut and hit the scale at 149 pounds—three pounds heavy—resulting in Freire not accepting a catchweight. The fight was canceled, and the Brazilian was quick to insult the former Oktagon MMA two-division champ on social media.
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On a post shared by UFC Brasil, Freire explained why he declined to face a heavy Keita on Saturday in the City of Lights. According to the former Bellator MMA kingpin, Freire stated that at this phase in his career, he did not want to give any opponent an unfair advantage over him.
“He said in an interview he was faster, stronger, younger,” Freire said, as translated by MMA Fighting on Friday. “I gave him all the advantages besides allowing this fight to happen here in Paris. He drove two hours to get here so there was no suffering. His weight was low, he got here at 163 just like I did…he had all the advantages and still didn’t make weight, so I wouldn’t give him that advantage. At this stage I don’t fight for money anymore, I fight for legacy, and I won’t give him…that advantage. Unfortunately the fight won’t happen.”
The Brazilian continued, expressing additional frustration and granting “Black Panther” a mean-spirited nickname.
“I’m absolutely sure he didn’t try going to the bathtub [to cut more weight],” Freire declared. “There’s plenty of ways [to make the weight]. He was surrounded by kids. There was no one older to put him in place, [telling him], ‘Stay there, go make weight.’ At 9 a.m. he weighed in, he was over, and instead of trying until 11 a.m., which is the [end of the time window], he was eating baby food. F–k you, man. If you want to blame anyone, blame my opponent. ‘Black Panther’…he’s ‘Fat Panther.’”
Keita Issues Apology as Rumors Swell of His UFC Release
Reports have suggested that with Keita missing weight ahead of his Octagon debut, the promotion has outright released him. Those rumors have yet to be confirmed. However, Keita did put out a statement as well, taking responsibility for failing to reach the featherweight cap.
“For the first time in 25 fights, I failed to make weight, and it had to happen on my UFC debut,” Keita wrote on social media after news of the fight scratch broke. “I wanted to continue and would have given everything to make weight, but my body didn’t want it. I sincerely apologize to all my fans. I will be back, like every time I fall in life.”
Freire has since gone on to request a slot on UFC Rio, in addition to posting an AI-generated photo of Keita as a plump panther with the theme song for the “Pink Panther” playing. Some fighters have weighed in on the bout’s cancelation, including ex-UFC middleweight Derek Brunson, who pitched that Freire and Keita get rebooked for the Oct. 11 event in Brazil’s second-most populous city.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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