A permanent relocation up to bantamweight might be in the cards for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Rogerio Bontorin.
Ahead of the early weigh-ins for UFC 275 on Friday, Bontorin was set to hit the scales for his flyweight clash against Manel Kape. Before it took place, Eurosport NL reported that Bontorin was hospitalized that morning for what was at the time undisclosed issues. Combate subsequently broke the story that Bontorin was sent to the hospital due to kidney pain, when he was about 130 pounds and trying to cut the remaining four. The UFC has confirmed Bontorin’s withdrawal due to “issues with weight management,” and the lineup shifted to slot the welterweight scrap between Andre Fialho and Jake Matthews up to the main card.
On his Instagram, Kape wrote of the fight cancelation while still in good spirits, and wished his opponent a swift recovery.
“So in the easiest way, my fight was canceled,” Kape wrote, “my opponent got sick cutting his weight and ended up in the hospital. I wish him the best and a healthy recovery. I clearly understand the sacrifice of cutting weight and the intentions of being physically prepared. I’m hungry for a fight, I’m physically well, mentally always 100 percent I can’t wait to put my body to work. Stay optimistic Oss.”
Kape (17-6) was aiming to make his first appearance of the year against Bontorin, and he would have done so on a two-fight knockout triumph streak. In August 2021, he sparked Ode Osbourne with a flying knee and follow-up punches, and he went on to put away Zhalgas Zhumagulov in the opening round in December with his hands. Kape and Bontorin were initially supposed to meet in Kape’s promotional debut in 2020 at UFC 252, but Bontorin suffered an injury and Kape had to wait until 2021 to fight. “Starboy” celebrates a stellar career finish rate of 94 percent as a pro.
This is not Bontorin’s (16-4, 2 NC) first issue with the scale in his career. In 2016, a Pancrase match resulted in a no contest against Takeshi Kasugai, as he won the fight by first-round submission but could not earn a victory due to his weight miss. The Brazilian faced Matt Schnell at 135 pounds in 2021, and although he won the fight by decision, he missed the bantamweight cap by a pound and went on to test positive for hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic. That fight too was later declared a no contest. As a result, Bontorin has not officially won a bout since 2019, when he forced the doctors to step in due to the damage he inflicted on Raulian Paiva.
UFC 275 will carry on with 11 matches inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, on June 11. The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight championship battle between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka, while the co-main attraction sees Valentina Shevchenko defend her flyweight strap against Taila Santos. Additionally, Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk run back one of the best fights in UFC history at strawweight, albeit only three rounds this time. With Kape-Bontorin off, the welterweight fight between Andre Fialho and Jake Matthews takes its place, while fellow 170 pounders Jack Della Maddalena and Ramazan Emeev will still open the main card.
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