While many fighters have missed weight for bouts in the past, one thing Lencioni believes is that Van Roosmalen intentionally missed weight for their encounter.
“I won’t get preachy up here,” Lencioni said to MMA Junkie. “Ten pounds? That’s a difference where someone does that intentionally to get out of a fight. I think his camp picked me and then realized, ‘Oh crap. This guy is legit.’ I’m baffled. Ten pounds is a whole other weight class. Weight classes exist for a reason. I will move down. I’m not moving up. I’m a nice scrawny guy. I like my muscles.”
It should be noted that Lencioni, who did make weight for the fight, could’ve still fought the overweight Van Roosmalen, but obviously turned it down.
The fighter did think about accepting the bout at one point, but didn’t like what he was hearing from others about the whole situation.
“I put some feelers out there and I didn’t really like what I was hearing,” Lencioni said. “I’ve got to treat this professionally, not personally. Too many fighters are too emotional. This is a business. We’ve got to take this seriously. If someone doesn’t, it just belittles and degrades the sport.”
There is no word yet whether the bout is going to be rescheduled or of the fighters will go their separate ways.
