After being cut by the UFC in 2014, Canada’s Jesse Ronson was set to make his return to the promotion to take on Diego Ferreira at UFC 231 this Saturday. The 32-year-old was stepping in on just 10 days notice to fight Ferreira.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this fight won’t be happening after all, as the Canadian was pulled from the card for being too heavy ahead of the weigh-ins.<\/p>\n
However, Ronson believes he should have never been pulled from the card, and that he was only pulled because he decided to be honest. He could have lied about his weight, but he was forthright with the commission and UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, and in the end, he got burned because of it.<\/p>\n
He’s been told he’ll never fight for the UFC again.<\/p>\n
Here’s how he explained the situation:<\/p>\n
“This is when it is going to get real f***ing shifty and shady,” Jesse Ronson told BJPENN.com. “The Ontario commission called me said \u2018how are you doing, we heard about the short notice (fight) we are glad to see you back.\u2019 Obviously, the Ontario commission knows me so they go \u2018what\u2019s your weight at?\u2019 I told the head of the commission straight up what my weight was, and what I thought my weight was going to be when I got there. They said \u2018that\u2019s a f***ing big cut, Jesse, we are not too sure about it.\u2019 Well, I was like ‘well if you guys are down with it, if the UFC seems cool with it, I\u2019d love to do a catchweight.’ I\u2019m like, ‘If you could suggest a catchweight to them at like 160’. They were like \u2018oh, we are 100 percent down for catchweight, we\u2019ll do that. I\u2019ll suggest it to the UFC right now.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n “After that phone call, I called my manager and said \u2018hey, the commission just called me and said they are down to do a catchweight if the UFC is alright with that’. He said \u2018No don\u2019t do a catchweight. If you say you will do a catchweight, Sean Shelby will cancel the fight right now and find somebody else.’ I was like ‘well f**k, they have done catchweights before so I\u2019m not sure why Sean Shelby wouldn\u2019t let me do a catchweight.’ I messaged Sean and I said, \u2018okay man, I\u2019ll do what I can and jump through the hoops and there isn\u2019t going to be a need for a catchweight.\u2019 He said \u2018okay cool just keep your weight down so there are no hassles. I don\u2019t want to deal with any hassles.\u2019 I said ‘fine.’<\/span><\/p>\n “Then s**t wasn\u2019t going my way. I talked to the UFC’s nutritionist and he said \u2018we are going to need a catchweight because realistically we are not making 156. If you want to do a catchweight do it now.\u2019 That\u2019s why I made the post, to be honest about it and tell them straight up you aren\u2019t going to make it. You don\u2019t want to look like an idiot and miss weight and them cancel the fight. Or you fight like s**t. I was prepared to do a catchweight and give Diego 20% of my purse anyways. Even if I make the catchweight just to give him the incentive to do the catchweight. We didn\u2019t even get that far into negotiations before I got the f***ing shaft.”<\/span><\/p>\n This was devastating news for Ronson, who only wanted to prove he belonged in the UFC. After getting cut in 2014, he’d long hoped to make it back, and was so<\/em> close to doing so this week.<\/p>\n In hindsight, Ronson believes the UFC would have preferred he just keep his mouth shut and miss weight. He believes that it was his honesty that got him cut, putting an end to a four-fight UFC contract before it even began.<\/p>\n “It was a four-fight deal. They always sign four-fight deals,” Ronson said. “They gave me the bout agreement for this fight against Diego. Then it was a four-fight contract overall which essentially just states your money. They canceled everything. That Tuesday I got called I was up until like 1 a.m. printing off over 100 pieces of paper filling stuff out and signing stuff. Luckily for me, I am licensed in Ontario to fight anyways. For anybody that isn\u2019t licensed in Ontario, good luck. There is so much to do. Then the UFC made me get an MRI, criminal background check. Essentially I was jumping through hoops so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I was stressed to the max.”<\/span><\/p>\n What makes Ronson even more upset is the fact that Shelby and the UFC never contacted Ferreira about doing a catchweight. They simply assumed the Brazilian wouldn’t be interested, which Ronson believes is not the case.<\/p>\n “That\u2019s why the UFC nutritionist said to me… he was saying maybe Diego won\u2019t want to cut a lot of weight,” Ronson said. “I was like \u2018probably not. He can come meet me face-to-face and I\u2019ll get on the f******g scale right now and tell him what I weigh.\u2019 I would have asked him what weight does he want to fight at, and then if he didn\u2019t want to do it that is when I would say I\u2019ll give him 20 percent if it entices him. Then, let\u2019s talk to the UFC.’<\/span><\/p>\n