Strikeforce canceled, Gian Villante eats
Mixed martial artist Gian Villante lifts weights during a strength and conditioning workout at the Professional Athletic Performance Center in Garden City. (Sept. 14, 2012) Credit: Barry Sloan
The news about Strikeforce canceling its Sept. 29 card broke late for those of us on the east coast. Around 1:10 a.m., the press release email arrived. About 30 seconds later, Twitter exploded with the report.
And that's how most of the fighters on the undercard found out.
"Pretty crazy," Gian Villante wrote in a text message to Newsday on Monday morning.
The Levittown-based light heavyweight was supposed to fight Guto Inocente.
But that fight and all the others were scrapped when Gilbert Melendez was injured and Showtime declined to broadcast the card without the main event, Strikeforce said.
So how did Villante, who had spent the past two months training and watching his diet and weight, handle the news early Monday morning when he read all the tweets?
He went to Taco Bell, then tweeted a photo showing a bag full of food.
"I didn't want to go too crazy but had to try the new Doritos taco. It was screaming at me," Villante said. "And also had some ice cream. I was missing her dearly."
Think he's done? Oh no.
"I also had half a veal parm hero that's been in the fridge a week, leftover from my brother," Villante said. "That one was for spite."
Villante said that 20-minute binge only cost him about 1.5 pounds, and that he's done now. He's hoping to get on the Nov. 3 card, which originally featured Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir, but Mir pulled out with an injury.
