After trading blows on social media, YouTuber Ryland Storms accused TikToker Tanner Fox of backing out of the fight live during the highly-anticipated YouTubers v TikTokers event, while Fox vowed to “beat Ryland’s ass” in the future.
June is shaping up to be a huge month for the influencer boxing world, with Logan Paul’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. attracting attention across the globe.
Now a series of social media stars are set to fight each other in a June 12 event that aims to decide once and for all what the better platform is — YouTube or TikTok.
Bryce Hall vs Austin McBroom is the main fight of the event, but there are several undercard fights featuring some popular influencers from their respective platforms, including one between Ryland Storms and Tanner Fox.
The two give conflicting stories in fight night interviews
In a ringside interview during the Battle of the Platforms event, Tanner doubled down on his earlier claims, saying: “I showed up today to talk to everyone and try any possible way” — from signing a “death waiver” to wearing head gear — to assure the fight went ahead but “all of a sudden the commission weren’t having it.”
He continued: “I accepted the twenty pound difference between me and my opponent but they didn’t wanna make it happen. I’m not sure why but they didn’t want it to happen.”
He vowed that he was “definitely still beating Ryland’s a**, just not today.”
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However, Adams had a drastically different view on what happened when he was asked his own side of the story live during the event.
“Basically, Tanner’s a b*tch and backed out because he couldn’t reach his weight,” he said. “I dropped twelve pounds to reach the weight but he couldn’t come up.”
Contrary to Fox’s claims, Ryland said that the TikToker “didn’t want to do sh*t”, alleging that his would-be opponent didn’t attend rehearsals and generally “didn’t want to show up.”
“He’s acting all hard today because he ignored everyone yesterday,” Adams said. “The commission couldn’t approve it today because it was fifteen hours before the fight so that’s why he’s acting all ready to fight today, but it’s not gonna happen because the commission can’t confirm that. ”
Although Tanner seemed determined to make the fight happen in the future, Ryland seemed less enthusiastic, saying that dealing with Fox is a “waste of [his] time.”
Ryland Stroms claimed on social media that Tanner Fox backed out
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The weigh-in went ahead as planned, with Ryland coming in at 6’0″, 145 pounds and Tanner measuring at 5’9″, 127.2 pounds.
However, in a YouTube video uploaded on June 11, Ryland claimed that Tanner has pulled out of the fight at the last minute.
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“Everyone’s doing their walkouts as you can see behind me,” he explained. “I was supposed to walk out two people ago, I’m not walking out anymore because Tanner apparently backed out of the fight after the weigh-ins today.”
The star still said that he wanted to fight if possible, and that they’re trying to look for people to step in. “We’re trying to find a replacement right now, possibly FaZe Rug, Adin Ross’s name was mentioned, but I just want to fight at this point. I don’t know why Tanner’s backing out, he’s obviously being a puss puss.”
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“Tanner, if you’re going through something mentally, I understand it, but just let people know, because we’re in Miami, we’ve been in Miami for a week and a half, two weeks, you should have told us then. I understand but, you know, doing it a day before the fight is kind of being a b*tch.”
Tanner Fox responds
On June 12, Tanner uploaded a series of Instagram stories explaining why the fight had been called off.
“Sh*t storm this is, huh?” he wrote. “POV: you sign up to fight someone within seven pounds above you, and they are 20 pounds heavier. This my first fight, is this the right first one?”
He then posted a video of the commissioner of the event telling him the weight difference was too big, but Tanner also explained that because it’s an exhibition fight, he’ll be able to choose.
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With just hours to go before the fight was scheduled to kick off, Tanner confirmed that even though he was willing to sign a waiver and go through with the fight, tournament organizers still wouldn’t allow the fight to go on.
“Ryland came in heavy, I came in light, the commission of the fight rules for a nine-pound difference, I had to think about it more, 20 pounds is a big difference,” Tanner explained.
“I said f**k it, I’ll show up to the event, I’ll fight whoever, I want to entertain the people. They have officially told us this can not happen.”
https://twitter.com/defnoodles/status/1403825615690600448?s=20
Even though Fox and Storms won’t be facing off, fans can still watch the rest of the scheduled fights on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 7pm ET / 4 pm PT, and you can keep up with all the details at our official hub right here.