Friday night at the Isleta Hotel and Casino, one of the most anticipated woman's bouts in recent memory was scheduled to take place as Holly Holm was set to take on Melissa "Hurracan" Hernandez in what was regarded as a battle to see who was the best pound for pound woman in the world.
The bout did not happen, but it was not because Hernandez did not want to fight. In fact it was Team Holm that seemingly did not want the fight.
The controversy started early in the evening when it was found out that Holm had already wrapped her hands without the presence of any member of Hernandez team.
"I was hanging out watching the first couple of fights and after the second bout we went in there and her hands were already wrapped", said Hernandez.
"The commission would not do anything about this. We gave them forty-five minutes and at 9pm they still said no. They had so many excuses that ranged from them running out of tape and gauze plus there wasn't time. My team offered all that to them. Tape, Gauze plus I would have waited all night for her. If they wanted her to win so badly, they should have done this on the level"
The story gets even more bizarre as Holm's team finally gave in AFTER Hernandez returned to her Hotel.
"At that time why would I fight? Is that what it took for them to realize we were serious about not fighting? It's in the rules for the two sides to watch each other wrap their hands."
"They came to my manager and offered him money to get me in the ring but I wasn't going to be part of that. A fighter just died in Philadelphia where my manager is from. There was the Cotto-Margarito situation and my health is a lot more important than some dollar amount"
I am not slandering anybody, but the press was all about her. We discussed two out of state judges and referee and that didn't happen plus we had agreed on Everlast, Winning or Reyes gloves and they presented me with TKO gloves. They finally caved into that for something they already agreed upon. And oh by the way, I was moving up THREE weight classes and she didn't make weight but we swept that under the rug."
"I think the most ironic thing is that they were able to find an opponent in ten minutes. Pretty ironic that they had somebody on standby when most fighters won't fight on less than a day notice if that"
"The replacement went ten rounds with her, so the fans know what I would have done to her. I am not downing Holly but let's do this on fair terms and the world will find out who the baddest girl in the sport is"