Sorry MMA fans, but the fight between Gabi Garcia and Shinobu Kandori looks like it’ll be postponed once again. When Garcia, a winner of several jiu-jitsu world championships, took her place on the scale, it found the fighter was nearly 27 lbs. over the required 209-lb. weight limit. Garcia clocked in at around 237 lbs., while Kandori weighed in considerably less at 162 lbs. The 53-year-old retired wrestler Kandori was less than thrilled about this, and screamed at Garcia for all the cameras to see.
Rizin Fighting Federation chief executive officer Nobuyuki Sakakibara told fans “competition-wise, we cannot make this happen,” according to FightfulMMA host Joe Ferraro.
Sakakibara has a point—a 75 pound weight difference between a jiu-jitsu champion and a retired, aged opponent wouldn’t seem like a fair fight. Remember, MMA is a brutal sport. To put this into perspective, the UFC record for missing the required weight limit is 11 lbs., according to TMZ. On top of that, the Brazilian fighter is two decades younger than the Japanese wrestler. Despite the noticeable weight and age differences, the fight hasn’t been officially called off just yet.
This isn’t the first time the two fighters were supposed to go head to head. Garcia was originally supposed to face off with Kandori in 2016, but due to an injury, Kandori was forced to step down. The competition is set to take place Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 in Saitama, Japan. Viewers can tune in online by way of pay-per-view.
