Losene Keita was set to make his UFC debut at UFC Paris against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, but the fight was cancelled after Keita missed weight.
“The Black Panther” and former Oktagon champion Keita were scheduled to debut in the featherweight division, but he came in three pounds above the limit. Freire wasn’t having the setback, so the bout was scrapped.
Following the cancellation, Freire mocked Keita as “Fat Panther” and accused him of not working hard enough to meet expectations. After missing weight, Keita went into the locker room to plead with Freire to proceed with the fight, even offering half of his fight purse, but Freire declined, calling Keita unprofessional.
“Fat Panther did not even try! He had more than two hours to try to cut, and he was already apologizing and hydrating himself, wanting to convince my brother to accept the fight.”
In a leaked video, Keita can be seen apologising respectfully to Freire and urging him to reconsider.
“Please, I know I f*cked it up. I know,” Keita said. “My coaches said, please. I’ve been waiting for this call all my life. Normally, I don’t even talk to my opponent like this. I’m not sweating. We tried everything. I’m not sweating no more. I tried. Even now, I was trying. I talked with everybody. This is my life. I just want to fight.”
“I gave you all the advantages, but I can’t give you this advantage,” Pitbull responded.“It’s only one kilo. It’s only one kilo,” Keita pleaded. “Please don’t take this away from me.”
“You take it, not me,” Pitbull replied. “That’s your fault.”“You can even take half of my money, I don’t care!” Keita insisted. “I just want to fight.”
“That’s your fault. Not mine,” Pitbull said. “That’s not on me.”“Bro, you’re a fighter,” Keita pushed back. “We are fighters.”
“I’m a fighter,” Pitbull said. “But I am professional. 145 pounds. Your debut in the UFC against me. You have one hour and a half to try and make weight.”
The back-and-forth ended with Pitbull suggesting Keita “go to lightweight.” Despite the setback, all hope may not be lost, as UFC senior vice president David Shaw noted that Keita could still get another chance to redeem himself.
Keita was the Oktagon lightweight and featherweight champion before signing with the UFC to face Pitbull at UFC Paris. For now, Freire has his sights set on UFC Rio, but no opponent has been announced.
