Two fighters appeared to miss weight Thursday in advance of Invicta FC 16. But, in the wacky world of mixed martial arts, sometimes things aren't always as they appear.
Irene Aldana came in .6 pounds over the bantamweight limit and Herica Tiburcio was .9 over the atomweight limit Thursday during weigh-ins at the Tropicana Las Vegas. However, due to a paperwork miscue, the two women did not contractually miss weight and will not be penalized for it, according to Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp.
The bout agreement for Aldana's fight with Jessamyn Duke read 136 pounds and the bout agreement for Tiburcio's bout with Jinh Yu Frey read 106 pounds, Knapp said. It was not stipulated in the contracts that those two figures were the max weight. So, by Nevada Athletic Commission rule, Aldana and Tiburcio were given a pound allowance. Aldana weighed in at 136.6 and Tiburcio hit the scale at 106.9.
Knapp didn't even understand what was going on when it happened, she said. The NAC told the two women that they didn't have to cut any more without her knowledge. The situation wasn't explained to her until after, Knapp said.
"It's plain and simple," Knapp told MMA Fighting on Thursday night. "That's what happened. That's why I looked so confused up there. We were all confused."
Duke and Frey both treated their fights like normal ones in their weight class, not knowing about the bout agreement error. Duke weighed in 134.9 and Frey was 105.5.
Because it was a mistake not of their own doing, Knapp said she would compensate the two women in the same manner in which the commission would have had their opponents missed weight. Duke will get 25 percent of Aldana's purse and Frey will get 25 percent of Tiburcio's purse. Aldana and Tiburcio will not be fined since they technically did not break any rules. Instead, that money will just come out of Invicta's pocket.
"We always do the right thing," Knapp said. "It might hurt a little bit, but we're still gonna do the right thing. I don't think there was ever a question. We just needed to walk away from it and talk about it first. Figure out what was going on."
Knapp said she would still have a discussion with Aldana and Tiburcio. Even if they did not miss weight in the record books, they still did come in outside the regulations of their respective weight classes.
"To be frank and honest, they didn't make weight," Knapp said. "But contractually, because on those two [bout agreements] we missed that word 'max,' the commission gave them an extra pound. ... They absolutely know what the policies are and they absolutely knew what the weight was."
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