Halsey missed weight, stripped of title, fight with Grove remains on

Bellator middleweight champ Brandon Halsey expressed confidence several hours before the Bellator 137 weigh ins.

“Weight cut is too easy,” he tweeted.

However, we weighed in at 188.1 lbs. As title fighters do not get the usual 1 pound allowance, Halsey would have to make 3.1 more pounds. He did not even take a second try, although he was afforded the opportunity to do so by the California State Athletic Commission.

According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Bellator has taken a principled stand against missing weight, and have stripped Halsey of this title. The fight with Kendall Grove however has not been canceled. Halsey will also forfeit 20% of his purse, 10% to the CSAC, and 10% to Grove.

“Bellator official tells me Halsey won’t attempt to cut to 185,” he tweeted. “If Halsey wins, title will be vacated. If Grove wins, he’s the champ.

The undefeated Halsey won the belt by tapping Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 126 in September. Many fighters do not consider themselves champion until they defend the belt successfully; that is not going to happen for Halsey.

The fighter tweeted appologies.

Brandon Halsey @BrandBullHalsey

•I’m embarrassed about the weight. I want to apologize to everyone. Including my opponent

• didn’t lose 47 out of 50 pounds for nothing. You didn’t follow me this long for nothing. Tomorrow we fight.

Bellator is a professional organization and put together an excellent card for Friday, but unfortunately, Halsey was not the only fighter on the card who failed to hit the contracted weight.

Mike Richman was scheduled to fight former champion Eduardo Dantas in the co-main event, but Richman weighed in at 139.2, 3.2 pounds heavy. Dantas agree to fight anyway, with the stipulation that Richman weigh a maximum of 147 on fight night. Richman declined, leaving Bellator with no choice but to cancel the co-main.

However, the camps came to agreement and the fight is back on.

“He didn’t make weight and the fight was off,” Dantas told MMAFighting.com. “It’s a fighter’s duty to make weight, and our fight has a pound of leniency. He was way heavier than that.

“I trained for months for this fight and the fight adrenaline is already on me, so I can’t go home without fighting. That’s why I accepted it, also for the fans, and tomorrow I’m going full force over him.”

Three other fighters failed to make weight:

Virgil Zwicker (206.7)

Joe Taimanglo (136.2)

Adrienna Jenkins (146.7)

Bellator should be applauded for taking firm action against Halsey for unprofessionally failing to meet his contractual obligations. The problems due to weight cutting in mixed martial arts are gaining increasing awareness, and are reaching a critical point.

While PED use is tremendously harmful, it is being dealt with far more firmly than it was previously. Weight cutting is an equally serious issue, and although it is being addressed laudably by regulators in California, far more needs to be done generally in the sport.