The main card of Bellator 260 has taken a hit.
Shorty after the Thursday morning weigh-ins for the event, the promotion announced that the fight between women’s flyweights Vanessa Porto and Ilara Joanne was off as the former was not cleared to compete by the commission.
The cancellation was later confirmed by Joanne, who took to Instagram to address the situation and send well wishes to her opponent.
“The Athletic Commission ruled my opponent unfit to compete after the weigh-ins medical examination,” wrote Joanne. “I hope she is ok. I accept God’s will in my life. My heart is full of gratitude. I thank God, [Bellator MMA] and all my team [Pitbull Brothers], my manager [Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire], my sponsors, my boyfriend [Arthur Lavisson] for always supporting me, [Leandro Higo] and [Eric Albarracin] for being here with me. Now I want the No. 9 in the rankings. [Hannah Guy] let’s go girl.”
BREAKING: The flyweight bout between Vanessa Porto and Ilara Joanne has been cancelled. Vanessa Porto was not cleared by the commission to compete. #BELLATOR260
— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) June 10, 2021
Porto took the fight with Joanne on a week’s notice and was expected to compete at a 128-pound contract weight, which she did successfully weigh-in for.
Porto, who was the former Invicta Fighting Championships flyweight champion, signed with Bellator MMA in September of last year. She made her promotional debut in April at Bellator 256, where she met former UFC title challenger turned Bellator contender, Liz Carmouche. Porto lost to Carmouche by way of unanimous decision.
Joanne holds a record of 1-1 in the Bellator cage. She submitted Bec Rawlings with a second-round kneebar in her debut at Bellator 231 and was finished by Kana Watanabe in her second outing at Bellator 237.
With Porto and Joanne being called off, the main card will proceed with four fights. The main event of Bellator 260 is a welterweight title fight between current champion Douglas Lima and No. 1 contender Yaroslav Amosov.
Here is how the card looks now:
Main Card (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET)
- Main event: Douglas Lima vs. Yaroslav Amosov — welterweight title fight
- Co-Main event: Paul Daley vs. Jason Jackson — 175-pound catchweight
- Aaron Pico vs. Aiden Lee
- Demarques Jackson vs. Mark Lemminger
Preliminary Card (YouTube, 6 p.m. ET)
- Kyle Crutchmer vs. Levan Chokheli
- Tywan Claxton vs. Justin Gonzales
- Nick Newell vs. Bobby King
- Lucas Brennan vs. Matthew Skibicki — 150-pound catchweight
- Amanda Bell vs. Marina Mokhnatkina
- Alex Polizzi vs. Gustavo Trujillo
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