Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson (14-2-1 MMA) successfully made weight for his highly anticipated showdown with undefeated Liverpool native Darren Till earlier today at Echo Arena.
Unfortunately for “Wonderboy”, his UFC Fight Night 130 opponent (Darren Till) could not say the same.
“The Gorilla” ultimately weighed in at 174.5-pounds on his second attempt, 3.5 pounds heavier than the welterweight limit of 171-pounds.
Stephen Thompson, who delighted fight fans by accepting a catchweight bout with Till to keep tomorrow’s event headliner intact, spoke with MMAJunkie shortly after today’s weigh-ins where he vented his frustration.
“A little disappointed he didn’t make weight,” Thompson said. “He comes in and makes weight at 173, gets an hour to come back, comes back even heavier. It’s kind of disappointing to come all this way, and your opponent doesn’t make weight.”
One of the stipulations in “Wonderboy” accepting the catchweight bout is that Darren Till cannot weight more than 188-pounds prior to tomorrow’s event.
Thompson spoke about that stipulation and how heavy he expects to be when he enters the octagon tomorrow evening.
“I’ve never actually gotten up to that heavy (188). I usually get up there to 185, 186. That’s what I show up weighing. I heard he had a big cut, walks around very heavy. It is what it is. I’m here to fight.”
In addition to the fight-day stipulation of being no more than 188-pounds, Darren Till was also forced to forfeit 30% of his fight purse, all of that money will now go to his opponent Thompson.
While Stephen Thompson was obviously disappointed that his opponent missed weight, he claims that the thought of not fighting at tomorrow’s highly anticipated event never crossed his mind.
“That never went through my head,” Thompson told MMAjunkie following today’s weigh-ins . “That was up to my managers and the UFC to make things like that happen. I’m focused on the fight, and that’s all I want to worry about.”
Who do you think will emerge victorious in tomorrow’s UFC Liverpool main event? Sound off PENN Nation!