This weekend brought us a lot to watch in the world of combat sports. With UFC, Gamebred Bare Knuckle, and MVP boxing all putting on a show, Saturday night was an action-packed one. Unfortunately, Amanda Serrano one of the best women’s boxers in the world, withdrew from her fight at the eleventh hour.
For those unaware, Amanda was set to make another defense of her unified featherweight world championship against Nina Meinke. Notably, Jake Paul would take on Ryan Bourland in the co-main event of the evening as well. As such, things were going to plan up until the point it was revealed that Serrano would not be fighting Meinke.
An emotional Amanda Serrano expresses her heartfelt disappointment that she was not cleared to fight tonight. pic.twitter.com/hcTAYuZPgX
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 3, 2024
Following the conclusion of the co-main event ‘The Real Deal’ made her way to the ring to apologize to the fans for not being able to fight. Thereafter, Most Valuable Promotions also put out a statement revealing why the fight had been canceled. Naturally, fans in the audience and those who tuned in from around the world were not too impressed with the entire ordeal.
Why was Amanda Serrano vs. Nina Meinke canceled?
For the most part, many purists had tuned into the event specifically to watch Amanda Serrano take on the mandatory challenger Nina Meinke. Unfortunately, the news of Serrano’s withdrawal was withheld from the fans until the very last minute, which likely did not go down too well with them. Thereafter, MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian disclosed Amanda’s eye injury and what led to it.
In a statement to Ariel Helwani, Bidarian clarified the sequence of events that led to the cancellation of the fight and why it could not be announced sooner:
“According to Nakisa Bidarian, Serrano had her hair done Thursday night. She went for a run on Friday, a chemical from the hair went into her eye. It started bothering her Friday and that’s why she wore glasses at the ceremonials. Bothered her all day today and when they examined her tonight at the arena the commission doctor wouldn’t clear her. She tried to convince them otherwise but alas no luck”.
Official statement on the cancellation of Serrano vs. Meinke. pic.twitter.com/UGexLXulKM
— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) March 3, 2024
A rather bizarre reason, to say the least, Jake Paul also added that the chemical burned Serrano’s hand and cornea. As a result, Most Valuable Promotions revealed that they would be paying Nina Meinke her fight purse in full. Additionally, the company promised to reimburse and refund the entirety of the $1.5 million gate from the event.
Fans react to Amanda Serrano’s eye injury
All things considered, the move did not go down too well with the fans online. Not only were they left disappointed once again by the appalling quality of Jake Paul’s opponent, but also the disappointment of the main event. According to Nakisa Bidarian, the fight was on till the last moment, owing to Serrano hoping that she would be cleared to fight.
With that said, fans took to social media to talk about what had transpired. Safe to say, many were not in a forgiving mood, despite the fact they hadn’t even tuned into the event. Thus, many accused Serrano and MVP of trying to fool the fans and hiding the real reason behind the cancellation.
Moreover, hearing the bizarre cause of Amanda’s injury, many fans were even more unconvinced about how it could have happened. As such, fans wrote, “If that were true, it would also have burned her scalp”. Another fan wrote, “Using chemicals harsh enough to burn someone’s hand to do your hair”. Amidst all this, some fans saw the funny side of the matter.
As such, some fans started asking for a refund having illegally streamed the event. Similarly, others started hoping Sean O’Malley doesn’t suffer something similar ahead of UFC 299 next week.
