Bellator 232 will go on with one less fight than scheduled.
Robin Van Roosmalen vs. Cris Lencioni is officially off Saturday’s event in Uncasville, Conn. Lencioni refused to accept the fight with Van Roosmalen after the former Glory Kickboxing champion missed the featherweight limit by 9.25 pounds.
Sherdog was the first to report the news on Friday morning, and MMA Fighting later confirmed the report with officials.
Lencioni gave a statement on the situation to MMA Fighting’s Steven Marrocco:
“A three-time world champion came in at a totally different weight class, in my opinion he looked scared, and came in that heavy knowing I wouldn’t take the fight at that big of a weight change,” Lencioni said.
“And I’m almost positive my contract with Bellator is up after this so we will see. But 100% he was scared. I want him.”
Lencioni is 5-2 in his MMA career and 2-2 inside the Bellator cage. Meanwhile, Van Roosmalen is 2-0 as a professional MMA fighter and was looking to make his Bellator debut in the Lencioni bout.
Bellator 232 is headlined by the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix final between champion Rory Macdonald and Douglas Lima.
Check out all the weigh-in results below.
Main card (DAZN at 10 p.m. ET)
Welterweight World Grand Prix Final: Rory MacDonald (169.75) vs. Douglas Lima (169.25)
175-Pound Contract Weight Co-Main Event: Paul Daley (174.75) vs. Saad Awad (173)
Bantamweight Feature Bout: Patrick Mix (136) vs. Isaiah Chapman (136.25)*
160-Pound Contract Weight Feature Bout: Nick Newell (159.75) vs. Manny Muro (160)
160-Pound Contract Weight Preliminary Bout: Baby Slice (160) vs. Craig Campbell (158)
Undercard (7:15 p.m. ET on MMA Fighting)
Welterweight Preliminary Bout: Demetrios Plaza (170.5) vs. Ryan Hardy Evans (170)
Lightweight Preliminary Bout: Lance Gibson Jr. (155) vs. Dominic Jones (154.25)
Lightweight Preliminary Bout: Marcus Surin (155) vs. Devin Powell (155.25)
Flyweight Preliminary Bout: Johnny Lopez (124) vs. Dan Cormier (125.5)
Bantamweight Preliminary Bout: John Douma (135) vs. Jornel Lugo (136)
Flyweight Preliminary Bout: Zarrukh Adashev (125.5) vs. Tevin Dyce (125.25)
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