Mohegan Sun says Heather Hardy missed weight at Bellator 194 weigh-ins. Hardy, though, doesn’t believe she did.
Officially, Hardy weighed in at 126.25 pounds Thursday morning at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. The Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation will fine Hardy 20 percent of her full purse — show and win money, if she’s victorious — and give it to her opponent Ana Julaton, director Mike Mazzulli told MMA Fighting. The two fighters will meet on the main card of Bellator 194 on Friday night.
However, Hardy was under the impression that she made weight after she got off the scale. Mohegan did not allow Hardy to take off her bathing suit and weigh-in with a towel and Hardy said she believed the commission was giving her an “allowance” since the bikini probably weighed about that much, rather than having her strip down.
“But I did make the weight,” Hardy told MMA Fighting. “I was two ounces over and they gave me the allowance for the bikini top and bottom without making me strip in front of he room.”
Mazzulli said that Hardy must have been “confused” by the situation in the heat of the moment. He said he didn’t want her to strip down or have the extra two hours to cut, because she was severely dehydrated on the scale and he wanted her to begin rehydrating immediately.
“She wasn’t even speaking to me on the scale,” Mazzulli told MMA Fighting. “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.”
Hardy said she didn’t think there were any issues of the sort.
“I was backstage after the weigh-in hydrating and doing interviews for like an hour after,” she said. … “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.”
Hardy and Julaton are both active boxers. After this MMA fight with Bellator, the two will compete in a boxing match against each other on a date and at a location to be determined.
Hardy said she will not appeal the decision made by the Mohegan commission.
“Right now, I have to focus on my fight,” Hardy said. “I’ll let Ana and her team worry about the fact that I wasn’t stripped naked to make my weight and take 20 percent of my pay that they feel they deserve.
“It’s too petty to worry about. But now, I’m really going to hit her like she owes me money.”
A request for comment from Julaton’s team was not immediately returned Thursday.