Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight contender Justin Willis, who was ranked in the promotion’s Top 15 as recently as this month, was reportedly given his walking papers after turning down a fight against Walt Harris.
The reason?
Willis supposedly told the promotion he would be unable to make the 265-pound weight limit for UFC San Antonio, according to Aaron Bronsteter at TSN.ca, which should give you an idea of how heavy the 31 year-old southpaw must be at this stage of the game.
“He had a chance to fight me on July 20, they offered him the contract and he told them he couldn’t make weight in two months,” Harris told the MMA Roasted Podcast. “And so they cut him. He’s a coward. He’s all talk, no game.”
Hey, it’s not like they call him “Little Pretty.”
But now Willis is claiming it was nothing more than a miscommunication with UFC officials and the real reason he’s not fighting Harris in “The Lone Star State” is because “The Big Ticket” is not a big enough name.
“It was a big miscommunication and a technical difficulty between me and the UFC,” Willis told MMA Junkie. “I’ll put it like that. But everything has been worked out, and you will have a fight in the near future.”
Willis (8-2) migrated from World Series of Fighting (WSOF) back in late 2016, racking up four straight wins — including last December’s jab-a-thon opposite Mark Hunt — before going down to Curtis Blaydes at UFC Nashville.
See you in Texas?