The Bellator 118 weigh-in from Atlantic City, N.J. is in the books. After some drama at Thursday’s festivities, the interim bantamweight belt is still in play… for Joe Warren, but not for Rafael Silva.
Warren, who was originally supposed to challenge champion Eduardo Dantas for his belt, stepped on the scale at 134.6 pounds, officially making weight for the interim title fight. Dantas was forced to withdraw due to a head injury suffered during training.
Silva, however, did not hit the mark. He weighed in at 136.9 pounds, almost two full pounds over the 135-pound limit for a bantamweight title bout.
As a consequence, New Jersey made the same determination that Texas was going to make when Johny Hendricks nearly missed weight for his UFC 171 welterweight title fight. The fight will go on, but only Warren can win the belt.
Having met his championship obligation, Warren will win the interim belt if he wins the fight. Should Silva win, however, he gets a W on his record, but receives no belt, since he failed to make weight.
“Rafael Silva is a warrior. He was offered this opportunity three weeks ago when Dantas was injured,” said Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He had a tremendous amount of weight to cut and got incredibly close, but to push for the last two pounds would simply have been medically unsafe
“Another great warrior here, Joe Warren made weight, so the belt remains in the line for Joe. We always have a contingency plan in place for instances like this, and we are moving ahead with this five-round fight, which should be fireworks.”
Additionally, Justin Baesman has replaced Sam Oropeza, who for the third time in four fights also failed to make weight. Baesman replaces Oropeza and will face Andrey Koreshkov in the Bellator welterweight semifinals.
Bellator 118 Weigh-in Results
Preliminary Card:Main Card:
Rafael Silva (136.9) vs. Joe Warren (134.6)
Andrey Koreshkov (171) vs. Justin Baesman (170.6)
Thomas Vasquez (134.6) vs. Marcos Galvao (136.8)
Mike Mucitelli (205) vs. Liam McGeary (204)
Gemiyale Adkins (172.4) vs. Dante Rivera (170.9)
Jesus Martinez (185.6) vs. Ryan Contaldi (186.7)
Tim Woods (186) vs. Eugene Fadiora (184.9)
Joe Pingitore (145.9) vs. Darrion Caldwell (145.8)
Mike Bannon (155.9) vs. Sidney Outlaw (155.7)
Amran Aliyev (146) vs. Kevin Roddy (145.5)
Jay Haas (144.4) vs. Lester Caslow (145.5)
(Photo courtesy of Bellator MMA)
