Amid the fallout from Marat Grigorian missing weight and Kaito Ono refusing to fight him at a catchweight, Beyond Kickboxing's Woradon Yomyinda caught up with the former GLORY champion and his trainer, Nick Hemmers, to hear their side of the story.
I'm here with Marat Grigorian. I understand that it's a very disappointing day for you today. First of all, let's go back to the weigh-in. What happened from the very beginning?
Nick: The weight check was between 10 and one. So, at nine o'clock he was 69.5 kilos and he needed to be 70.3 kilos. So we had 800 grams to drink. So we drink one liter and go run, take it off, and drink one more half liter. He was good, but he could not go to the toilet. So, we had to wait.
Marat: I cannot pee. I cannot pee. That is a problem.
Nick: So, we had to wait until he could pee. We tried three or four times. He could not pee. So until like 30 minutes after the time of the weigh-in, we were too late. Then you get extra time to be hydrated. So even if you're overweight, you still have to pass the hydration test.
Let's take a step back. After drinking, you were late to the weigh-in, but you still managed to provide a urine sample for ONE Championship.
Marat: Yes. Everything was good.
So you passed hydration?
Nick: Yeah, we passed hydration. We passed the hydration test, but 30 minutes too late. So in the rules of ONE, it means you get a fine. So if you pass hydration, you are okay to fight, but you have to negotiate with your opponent because we were 340 grams overweight. That's like half a bottle of water.
As far as you know, you are allowed to tell me what happened during the negotiations and how those went wrong?
Nick: We didn't do the negotiation, ONE did them. He knew this at two o'clock in the day, and he had until eight o'clock, so he had six hours to make a decision. He waited until 1:30 in the night when everyone was sleeping, and then he said no.
You posted that Kaito should be doing tennis, not fighting.
Marat: Yes. Of course. Because look, we are training so much for this big arena, big, big event and he's leaving all, all the things away and he just goes away, but his paycheck.
Just playing devil’s advocate here—would you understand, from his point of view, that maybe he’s thinking, 'You have to be on weight—it’s in the contract'?
Nick: He is right about the weight. But for us, we are fighters, we play the fight game. We don't play tennis, we are fighters.
Marat: It's the fight game, you know, which we prepared so long time for this fight, you know, only for 300 grams! It's my fault. But come on, 300 grams! And you don't want to fight on this big event, on this big stage.
Kaito got paid, but what about you?
Nick: No, because we missed weight. So then we have to talk with the opponent. If he says yes, we pay him a percentage of our purse. Understand what's happening. So I think Kaito was looking for an easy way not to fight him.
Kaito actually missed the press conference earlier this week. Do you think that play any role in his decision or his team decision?
Nick: I think They were scared from the beginning.
Marat: You know he was scared. If he doesn't want to fight with me, he must to say it from the beginning because I was also prepared for this fight. Mentally, physically, I left everything behind, prepared for this big event and look what happened. So many disappointed fans here. Sorry for them, you know. But yeah, I'm very disappointed.
Nick: Just to make clear, we missed weight, we are the ones that made the mistake in the beginning, but it's a big difference if it's two kilo or 340 grams. That's nothing, that's going to the toilet. One time.
Kaito has been saying for most of the year that he wants a rematch with Tyjani, the GLORY champion. He actually hasn’t talked about you as much compared to Tyjani. Do you think that might be part of the reason?
Nick: But did you see what [Marat] did with Tyjani?
Marat: I don't want to fight against him, Kaito. I don't want to give him a chance to fight against me. This was a good chance for him. So [onto the] next one. I don't want to give him this chance again.
Let’s start with your next opportunity. Obviously, you didn’t get to fight this time, so now you’ll have to wait for another offer from ONE Championship. Who do you want to fight next? You mentioned it’s not Kaito—can you explain why?
Marat: If Noiri was in [Kaito's] position, he will take the fight for sure, because Noiri is a real fighter. I saw that. I know it. Noiri is a good, mentally stronger fighter, but in the eyes of Kaito, I don't see the fighter mentality because for 300 grams, he just leaves the fight behind. Tawanchai or Noiri, it really doesn't [matter].
Nick: We want to thank ONE Championship that we are here again. We can fight on the next event in one month, two months, in three months, he's ready to go. This was a one time [slip up] in all these years. Marat had a long career. He fought the best in the world in every country. He never missed weight, never. This is once, and it will never happen again.
