Marat Grigorian blasted Kaito Ono for pulling out of their kickboxing bout at ONE 172 in Japan – and insisted “Masaaki Noiri would have taken the fight”.
The former ONE Championship featherweight title challenger failed to produce a sample during the official weigh-ins and hydration tests, and then came in three quarters of a pound heavy.
ONE chairman and CEO also criticised Kaito in scathing comments at the post-event press conference backstage on Sunday night.
Chatri later retracted his words after backlash from Kaito and Japanese fans and media, but Grigorian did not back down.
“This guy was just looking for an easy way out. In my opinion he better choose another sport to play, maybe something like dancing. I know for sure a guy like Noiri would take the fight,” Grigorian told the Bangkok Post.
Noiri electrified Saitama Super Arena with a stunning third-round TKO of Tawanchai PK Saenchai to become the interim featherweight kickboxing champ, setting up a date with Superbon.
“He [Kaito] showed he does not have the real Japanese warrior mentality like all the rest of the Japanese fighters,” Grigorian added. “I know they are well-known for being real warriors with good spirit.
“He missed his chance to fight a great name like me because I will never fight him again. I would feel disgraced to decline a fight for my opponent being 350g over – this is not the fight game.”
Grigorian was unable to urinate during the official three-hour window, but turned up not too long after the weigh-ins had concluded with a hydrated sample, allowing him per ONE’s regulations to negotiate a catchweight.
“In the morning before the weigh-ins, I was 69.5 kg so I could drink water to make sure I was hydrated,” Grigorian said.
“So we drank 1.5 litres of water, but I had problems urinating. I couldn’t go to the toilet, so we had to wait until I could pee.
“At the moment when I could pee we were 30 minutes late for the official weigh-ins time. I had to give him a percentage of my purse which I didn’t like, but I had to agree because I was overweight by 350g which is almost nothing.”
Kaito and Grigorian later headed to Saitama Super Arena on Saturday evening for a face-off at the ceremonial weigh-ins – but their fight was not yet signed, and the Japanese fighter later declined the catchweight overnight.
“I think in the staredown he saw what was going to happen, and this was his ticket out,” Grigorian added.
“There were other fighters on the same card that also missed weight and hydration but they and their opponents agreed catchweights and to give some of their purse so the fight could go on.
“What is 350g? My opponent just found 350g too much to fight on a legendary card like this against an opponent like me, so I think he was just looking for an easy way out for a free paycheck.”
