Drama at Icon weigh-ins

August 1, 2008

Sydney Silva (left) vs. Hideto Kondo (right)

Photo: Greg Honda, Icon Sport

In case Baroni/Verdadero, Hose/Dominique and Oshiro/Quach weren’t interesting enough, yesterday’s Icon weigh-ins have resulted in the Silva/Kondo fight turning into a grudge match.

It all started when Silva walked to the scale and motioned to president T. Jay Thompson that he had officially weighed in at 160 pounds earlier. Thompson and promoter Patrick Freitas weren’t aware if he did and made him weigh in with the other fighters. He was three pounds over the limit and would have to cut the weight if Kondo wouldn’t accept the fight. After Kondo and teammate Hayato “Mach” Sakurai mulled it over, they told Silva he had to make weight.

That resulted in a war of words between the two camps with Silva shouting at his opponent he’s going to kick his butt (to put it mildly) in tonight’s fight. Kondo didn’t back down and at one point, Sakurai turned to Freitas and said, “my fighter, no tap.”

After cooling off, Silva made the 160-pound weight limit later in the day and everything is a go for tonight’s card. The only other fighter that didn’t make weight was Ed Newalu, who was one pound over the 150-pound limit for his fight with Ricky “Hoku” Wallace. Instead of cutting the weight, a financial deal was made between the two to take care of the extra pound.

Posted in Fights