HONOLULU – Ronny Markes is unsurprisingly disappointed about the last-second cancelation of his Bellator 235 main event showdown with Josh Barnett.
Just hours before the pair were set to meet in the heavyweight headliner on Friday, news broke that Barnett had come down with a severe illness that caused the commission to pull him from the matchup against Markes (), which represented the Bellator debut for both athletes.
Markes was left hanging, and he expressed disappointment when speaking with reporters not long after everything unfolded.
“I feel so sad,” Markes told reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage at Bellator 235. “I trained two months an a half for this fight. I really liked if this fight would happen today, but I hope Bellator put me and Josh to fight again soon. I’d really like to fight him and I talked to him before and saw him and he looks sick.”
Although some fighters would lash out at their opponent in this scenario, Markes was able to look at everything with perspective. He’s been on the other side of the coin before, he said, and he was actually able to see Barnett face-to-face, which removed any doubt about the legitimacy of it all.
“I see that he don’t feel good,” Markes said. “He was really sick. I was in the same situation as him in February in Brazil. I come to fight them and the whole week sick and the day of my fight I had the fever, had a lot of cold and the same as he did right now. I say to him to stay healthy.”
Despite the situation being fresh, Markes said he’s already working with Bellator to get the fight rescheduled. He said there’s a possibility the promotion will redo the fight at Bellator 238 at Jan. 25 in Inglewood, Calif., and for Markes, that would be the perfect scenario.
“I respect him but I hope Bellator put this fight again as soon as possible,” Markes said. “I would really like to fight in January on the same card as Cyborg in LA. I hope Bellator puts that fight there. … (Barnett) said he’d really like to fight in California because he lives there. I hope that Bellator schedules us there.”
