Guinea fighter Losene Keita should have made his UFC debut, but he lost that chance after missing weight for his scheduled fight against Patricio Pitbull.
Keita came in three pounds over the featherweight limit, and Pitbull refused to step into the octagon despite Keita’s offer to give up part of his fight purse. The backlash was immediate. Fans criticized Keita for missing weight, and things escalated further when videos surfaced online of him pleading with Pitbull to still accept the fight.
Despite the criticism, Keita’s manager, Pedro Faustino, admitted they had no excuse for the miss and took full responsibility. Still, he pointed out that biology played a role since the bout was on short notice.
“(Waiting for a UFC contract), there was a little bit of a moment where we thought, ‘OK, it’s not going to happen in Paris. It’s four weeks until Paris. Maybe it’ll happen in Rio. Maybe Qatar or Abu Dhabi,’” Faustino said. “We didn’t know, and then suddenly it came. Of course, we would not say no to an offer like this. We were asked if we could make the weight. Twice we said yes, because Keita had never missed weight. He made three title fights at featherweight with no allowance and always made weight. In our heads, Keita’s body always worked well on weight cuts.”
Faustino explained that Keita normally makes weight the night before weigh-ins. This time, however, his body simply shut down.
“He arrived in Paris lighter than Patricio,” Faustino said. “Everything was going good. … Then his body broke. He stopped sweating. He was trying to cut from 7 p.m. the night before, and for 12 hours straight he couldn’t shed the weight. People online were saying he didn’t try, but that’s not true. His body just gave up.”
Rumors quickly spread that Keita had been cut from the UFC. Faustino admitted that in the immediate aftermath, that possibility was real. He also stressed that the UFC has not released Keita, citing comments from UFC executive vice president Dave Shaw, who suggested Keita’s future with the promotion remains safe.
“I cannot say that rumor is false, it’s not,” Faustino said. “Everyone was frustrated. The UFC was upset, and rightly so, because so many people wanted to see that fight. For 72 hours, we didn’t sleep. We thought it was over for Keita. When Dave Shaw said he was happy to keep him on the roster, we relaxed a little. But still, it was the hardest three days of Keita’s career.”
Keita himself has yet to speak publicly in detail about the incident, though he briefly commented on social media. According to Keita’s manager, Pedro Faustino, the setback won’t define him.
“When he woke up that day and saw what happened, he felt like he was in hell,” Faustino said. “This was his dream, and he refused big offers before to make it happen. Seeing it slip away broke him. But it’s also part of the process. He will learn from this and come back stronger.”
