Apparently Shark Fights was not very "Suave" when dealing with former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in the lead-up to his co-main event fight against Karl Knothe tonight.
According to MMA Fighting, Rodriguez, who's been working on cutting to the light heavyweight division, was under the impression that his Shark Fights 17 fight would be contested at a 230-pound catchweight.
He apparently dieted and cut to weigh in at 227.75 last night while his opponent, Knothe, tipped the scales at a significantly larger 253.75.
Rodriguez allegedly elected to skip the fight after finding out he'd be competing at over a 25 pound weight disparity.
Whoops.
The 230 pound catchweight would make sense considering Rodriguez has fought at a 215 pound catchweight in his last two MMA fights. It appears the miscommunication could cost Shark Fights some big bucks.
Rodriguez's manager, Ken Pavia, said that the promotion has even offered Rodriguez more money to take on the larger opponent but he turned it down.
In the meantime, Shark Fights is scrambling to either offer even more money to the former UFC champion or find a last minute replacement from the undercard.
Shark Fights 17 will still be holding an intriguing main event rematch between tough middleweights Matt Horwich and Jake Rosholt regardless of what happens but this certainly has thrown a wrench in its operation.
Do you think it will all get sorted out Maniacs? Or is this co-main event dead in the water?
Sound off!
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