The heavily-anticipated bout between Filipino-American mixed martial arts superstar Brandon “the Truth” Vera and British kickboxer Chi “Chopper” Lewis-Parry has been scrapped.
According to a tweet by ONE Championship Chief Executive Officer Victor Cui, Chi Lewis-Parry (6-0-1) failed to submit his medical certificates, which are required to clear him to compete at ONE Spirit of Champions here in Manila.
Breaking News:ChiLewisParry fails to submit his medical reports & drug tests.Topranked @typhooncheng vs @Verafied for World Champ 11Dec #ONE
— Victor Cui (@victorcui) December 8, 2015
Moreover, the British mixed martial artist did not even attempt to board his plane en route to Manila, according to Cui.
Facebook post of Victor Cui
BREAKING NEWS:
After multiple requests made by ONE Officials directly to Chi Lewis Parry and his Manager over the last few weeks, Chi has failed to submit his medical results and his drug tests for the fight this Friday. Additionally, he decided not to board the plane departing from London to Manila. He will not be fighting this Friday.
The next top heavyweight contender, Paul Cheng will be stepping in for the World Championship fight against Brandon Vera. Can China claim its first ever Heavyweight World Champion or will the hometown hero make it a storybook win for Filipinos?
After the reports were released, Vera, who had been training long and hard for the bout, was infuriated, saying. “(Expletive) you for the rest of your life,” Vera said. “Go back to playing with balls, ’cause you ain’t got none. (Expletive) (expletive). I hope you get by a bus. And if not, if you’re still talking (expletive), if you still believe you can beat me, send me your address. Send me your gym where you’re at. After I’m done here in Manila, before I go home for Christmas, I’m’a come to you, and we’ll (expletive) scrap there. If you want to be safe, we can put shin guards, gloves and head gear on. If you wanna get down, we can do no gloves.”
“You’re a (expletive), bro. I feel bad for your wife. She ain’t even with a man.”
Fortunately for Filipino fight fans, a more explosive bout is set to take place, as the second ranked heavyweight in the ONE roster Taiwanese heavyweight Paul “Typhoon” Cheng stepped-up to replace Lewis-Parry.
Cheng was only supposed to be here to watch the card and make the media rounds but responded to the opportunity. Cheng has five wins and one loss in his slate. Cheng, though, has been inactive since July 11, 2014 after soundly defeating Mahmoud Hassan via second round TKO.
Friday will surely be a more explosive fight night as Paul Cheng and Brandon Vera will face-off for the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Championship.
Be sure to stay tuned to Tiebreaker Times for the weigh-in tomorrow, December 10, while ONE Spirit of Champions is set on Friday, December 11 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City
