Reporter alleges Alessio Sakara pulled out UFC 122 due to bad weight cut
A bombshell accusation was released on Thursday 18 November when mixed martial arts reporter Gareth A. Davies alleged that Alessio Sakara’s flu-like symptoms, which caused him to pull out his UFC 122 co-main
event bout hours before the match was to start, was actually the result of an irresponsible weight cut by Sakara.
"I have it on good authority that eight or nine days before bout was due to take place, Alessio Sakara was walking around at 220 pounds,” said Davies on the
MMA Live TV show. Sakara fights at middleweight (185lb), and successfully made weight before pulling out of the fight.
He continued, "He failed to show for the fighter workouts on the Thursday in Italy. He was walking around the fight hotel looking very gaunt and ghostlike. When you take that much weight off, that quickly,
it does bring on illness sometimes and I do fear this may have happened here with Alessio Sakara."
Sakara had been set to fight Jorge Rivera on the 13 November card, but news came out hours only before the fight he was suffering from an illness and couldn’t perform. The UFC paid Rivera both his base fight
pay and his win bonus if he’d have won the fight, and also paid Sakara his base pay as well. But the withdrawal of the fight from the card, which was already suffering from a lack of high-profile fights, hurt an already lacklustre card and the event turned
out to be one of the major flops of 2010 for the UFC.
If Davies’s insinuations are true, it would be very bad news for Sakara. The UFC is known for demanding professionalism from its fighters, especially when it comes to weight-cutting, most recently releasing
Efrain Escudero after he lost after missing weight.
“It doesn't do him any favours with the UFC, I can guarantee you that," said Davies.
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