A former opponent of Michael Chiesa is calling out “The Maverick” over his statement on failing to make weight ahead of UFC 226.
Tonight (July 7), Chiesa will go one-on-one with former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The two will collide inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lightweight tilt will be featured on UFC 226’s main card.
Chiesa failed to reach the lightweight limit. He tipped the scales at 157.5 pounds and will forfeit 30 percent of his purse. Chiesa released a statement claiming he had never missed weight going all the way back to his wrestling days. See it for yourself:
Marc Forsyth fought Chiesa twice in the amateur ranks. Forsyth defeated Chiesa the first time and the pre-fight weigh-ins took place without incident. The second go-around was a different story. Forsyth gave MMA News the details:
“I fought Chiesa two times as an amateur. Our first fight was June 20th, 2008 at Sportfight XXIII: Heated Rivals, and was shown live on HDNet Fights. Michael was 1-0 at the time.
The weigh-ins went well and I came out with the victory in 1:07 of the first round via armbar. I was the first man to beat him in his career, and the only one to beat him up until he faced Jorge Masvidal in the UFC. Our second fight was on November 7th 2009. The day of weigh-ins came, and after making weight, I found out that Chiesa had said he wasn’t going to make it to the weigh-ins. Skeptical, but having sold many tickets to family and friends, and having trained for months in preparation, I naturally wanted to keep the fight. I said ‘**** it.’ I don’t care. Let’s fight anyway.”
Forsyth says what followed caused panic as Chiesa initially didn’t show up on the day of the fight. It all led to Michael Chiesa showing up to the bout despite not even weighing in:
“The day of the fight comes and Chiesa no-shows. Everyone starts to panic because this was supposed to be for a 155lbs title. Remember, this is before the state athletic commission became heavily involved in amateur MMA in Washington State. One of the referees for the night, Anthony Hamlett, (not the referee of our fight) who had previously known Chiesa and his camp, personally called him at his hotel where Chiesa had allegedly refused to come and fight. I guess Hamlett finally convinced him to allow him to come to the hotel and pick him up and bring him to the venue.”
Forsyth went on to say that he couldn’t help but speak up knowing that Michael Chiesa’s claim of being perfect on weigh-in days for nearly 20 years is inaccurate:
“Finally showing up much later, we went through with the fight, where Chiesa eventually finished me via round two rear-naked choke. He felt strong and he felt huge. Much different than our first meeting. It doesn’t really bother me, it was an amateur fight, after all, but for him to release a public statement where he is quoted as saying, ‘Throughout my journey in combat sports that goes all the way back to wrestling at 11 years old, I’ve never failed stepping on the scale. Today was the first time in 20 years where I didn’t hit my mark…’ well, that’s just not true.”
Here is footage of Forsyth’s first fight against Chiesa:
MMA News has reached out to Chiesa’s team for comment.
