Those were the words of Gabe Ruediger when he was on season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter when he was attempting to cut weight for a fight with Corey Hill and was asking coach B.J. Penn to put him back in the sauna to sweat off the last pounds before the fight. No one put Ruediger back in the sauna and he did not make weight and was then tossed off the show and out of the UFC by president Dana White. Afterwards, Ruediger was rumored to be a late replacement on the first K-1 show that took place in Los Angeles last month but did not get licensed in time for the show and rumors popped up rapidly that the commission in California denied Ruediger after seeing his weight cutting fiasco on the television reality show.
This couldn’t be further from the truth as confirmed by the executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, Armando Garcia, who joined MMAWeekly Radio to dispel the rumors.
“For some knucklehead on the internet to suggest that I watched the UFC (The Ultimate Fighter show) and I give you my word that I’ve never seen the show, I’ve seen a part of a show, the one wear they’re throwing rocks through windows, that one I was compelled to see a show and I happened to see that one. I never saw a show with Gabe in there,” said Garcia very adamantly.
Garcia continued and revealed the real reason behind Ruediger’s absence from the K-1 show in Los Angeles.
“I cannot, as in many other cases that came up with FEG, cannot discuss certain things and state certain things because it’s a HIPAA violation, its medical privacy,” said Garcia when discussing Ruediger’s case with MMAWeekly Radio. “With that said let me say that if a fighter is taking any kind of medication and he discloses it and I review it and I consult with my doctors because I’m not a doctor. If my doctors say ‘I need to see the patient, I can’t do this over the phone or look at it on paper, so I need this person to come into my office and what will probably happen is I will need to contact that person’s doctor, we will need to confer and then perhaps we can resolve it right then and there or I’ll need to see records, so on and so forth’ that’s what doctors do. I have absolutely no say in it in that respect because it’s a medical issue and I’m not a doctor. So when Gabe’s situation comes up, we review his licensing paperwork, and essentially doctors need to talk about certain things and as doctors are, they could not get together and that could not happen as of Monday or Tuesday because he was a late sub, and I confirmed everything to the day of the weigh-in. So when that happens you can’t fight.”
So after much speculation Garcia confirmed that it was a matter of bad timing with the medicals being reviewed by the state’s doctors and Ruediger’s own physician.
“He was never denied a license, his licensing documents were under review. I personally explained this to him, I personally explained this to his manager, and to the promoter and everybody understood. Why didn’t he fight? Because the doctors didn’t have an opportunity to confer and clear things up in those 2 or 3 days leading up to the fight,” said Garcia.
If fans are curious about seeing Ruediger compete in the state of California, it looks like it’s all up to Gabe now.
“Gabe Ruediger has essentially met all of the licensing requirements, all he needs to do is send in the fee for the license and a picture and he’s licensed,” said Garcia when speaking about Ruediger. “I spoke with him about 2 weeks ago and he said he was going to do it but hasn’t done it, that’s an administrative issue, but he has met all of the medical requirements and all of the licensing requirements. So if Gabe Ruediger is up for a fight, in no time at all, if he provides the fee and a picture, he’ll be allowed to fight.”
