Felice Herrig Gets New Opponent for Bellator 84 After Michele Gutierrez Allegedly Fakes Injury to Cover Up Weight Issues

Felice Herrig was set to return to Bellator for the first time since 2010 at Bellator 84 on December 14. Her original opponent was Michele Gutierrez, who withdrew after reporting a hand injury. Herrig publicly disputed that explanation and said she had evidence suggesting weight issues were behind the withdrawal.

Herrig’s Camp Questions the Injury

According to sources cited at the time, Gutierrez had allegedly been planning to withdraw for weeks because she was around 22 pounds above the 115-pound contracted limit. Fighters Only spoke with Herrig’s manager, Brian Butler, who described what his camp had heard.

We heard through several credible sources close to Michele’s camp that she had plans of pulling out of this fight several weeks ago due to her weight being at 140+ pounds and that she was in fact NOT injured. We did not have hard evidence until we saw the postings on Twitter. We could not verify if they were authentic but they looked very convincing.

Gutierrez denied the allegations and posted an image showing her hand in a cast.

The Social-Media Dispute

Herrig subsequently posted a screenshot that she said showed a conversation involving Gutierrez and Bellator fighter Erin Beach. The original screenshot was hosted on CagePotato’s old CDN and is no longer included in this restored article.

Another news outlet posted on Twitter that they called Michele and confirmed they were in fact authentic. Bellator has found another opponent and Felice’s focus is now 100% on this bout.

The timeline also drew attention because Gutierrez tweeted that she was having her hand X-rayed on December 3, while photos of her in a cast had already appeared the previous day.

Patricia Vidonic Steps In at Bellator 84

Gutierrez was ultimately replaced by Patricia Vidonic, whom Herrig had defeated by unanimous decision earlier that year. It was another late opponent change for Herrig, whose scheduled opponent at XFC 15 had also withdrawn amid weight-cutting issues.

— J. Jones