Hometown UFC fighter fumes after opponent disqualified
It was over before it started.
Fighters enjoy a quick finish as much as anyone, but the end of Tanner Boser’s UFC debut is a real heartbreaker.
Instead of stepping into the cage at UFC 240 on Saturday, he now has to settle for watching from the seats after his opponent, Giacomo Lemos, tested positive for a banned substance and got pulled from the card.
“It really sucks,” said the local heavyweight. “I’ve been training my ass off for a long time — for the last seven weeks since I got notice for this fight.
“It’s brutal that, less than two days before I was supposed to fight, this happens. I wish there would have been more notice, so they could try to find another opponent, but it was just too late. They couldn’t fly someone in on less than a day’s notice for weigh ins. It’s not possible.”
He’s angry at Lemos for either trying to sneak something past the system or being too careless to pay attention to what he was putting into his body. Either way, Boser says, there’s no excuse for what happened.
“Either he was trying to cheat or he’s an idiot,” said a fuming Boser. “A banned substance doesn’t necessarily mean a performance-enhancing steroid, but that said, it could have been.
“His friends and family are saying it was an anti-inflammatory for an injury he had. OK, if it was, we’re governed by USADA and there’s an extensive list of all banned substances. You can check, you can even take a picture of the label and send it to USADA and they’ll let you know.
“What was the thought process in getting on an airplane and flying across the world for a fight and crossing your fingers and hoping they don’t catch it? They catch everything. Even if it was anti-inflammatories and the guy wasn’t blatantly trying to cheat by doing steroids, he’s a moron. I’m definitely mad at the guy.”
Boser said the UFC was very good about the situation, telling him they’ll try to get him on an upcoming card as soon as possible, perhaps UFC Fight Night on Sept. 14 in Vancouver.
“I honestly hope it’s before that because I’m ready to go,” he said, adding he won’t get a chance to collect a win bonus, but he didn’t come out of this empty-handed. “They paid me my show money and Reebok paid me my sponsorship, which was really cool.”
That takes away some of the sting, but not nearly enough, after not being able to step inside the cage on Saturday and fight in front of his friends and family on the biggest stage in MMA.
“What can you do? I’m not the first guy this has happened to. All you can do is wait and watch me on the next one.”