MANILA, Philippines – Russian prospect Timofey Nastyukhin withdrew from his 3-round featherweight bout against Filipino fighter Eric Kelly on the undercard of ONE Championship’s “Global Rivals” event on April 15.
According to a reliable source, ONE Championship pulled the plug on Nastyukhin as he could not comply with the promotion’s new weigh-in policy and did not meet the permissible weight limit at the pre-fight check.
After the sudden and tragic passing of Chinese combatant Yang Jian Bing due to a heart attack this past December, Asia’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion adopted a new procedure to prevent its athletes from cutting massive amounts of weight prior to a bout.
The objective of ONE Championship’s revamped weigh-in system is to ban all dehydration and conventional weight-cutting practices by having fighters compete at their “walking-around” weights.
In the organization’s new weigh-in system, all fighters must be within the limits of their weight class 3 weeks before a fight as part of the 8-week competition zone.
An athlete's body weight can be more than 6% over the allowable perimeter 8 weeks before a bout, but the weight number should gradually decrease until the final 3 weeks.
Fighters may also petition to change weight classes outside of the 8-week competition zone.
Multiple weight checks and urine tests will determine and monitor the fighter’s compliance.
Under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which are embraced by all state athletic commissions in the United States and other promotions worldwide, a featherweight competitor should be within 136 to 145 pounds a day before the fight.
Meanwhile, ONE Championship allows its featherweight fighters to weigh from 144.98 to 154.66 pounds.
The insider confided that Nastyukhin tried to save his spot on the aforementioned fight card by offering Kelly to face him in a catchweight bout, but the latter turned down the proposal.
ONE Championship is currently looking for a short-notice replacement to square off with Kelly, while Nastyukhin was given a second chance by the company as he is booked at the “King of Champions” event in Bangkok, Thailand on May 27 against Rob Lisita. – Rappler.com