UFC heavyweight contender Greg Hardy made weight for his UFC Vegas 12 bout against Maurice Greene on Saturday night after an initial scare.
At Friday’s official weigh-ins, Hardy first stepped onto the scale at 266.5lbs, a half-pound over the heavyweight non-title limit of 266lbs. Hardy was then given one more hour to make weight (Via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto). If Hardy didn’t make the weight, he would have become the first heavyweight in UFC history to miss weight (Via Sherdog’s Jay Pettry).
Greg Hardy has missed weight. 266.5 pounds. pic.twitter.com/QF13k4MYrb
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 30, 2020
Greg Hardy is the first heavyweight in UFC history to miss weight, coming in at 266.5 pounds ahead of his bout with Maurice Greene at #UFCVegas12.
Note: he still has additional time to cut weight and make his mark.
— Jay Pettry (@jaypettry) October 30, 2020
Fortunately, Hardy was able to make the weight limit on his second attempt, as he came in at 264.5lbs.
Greg Hardy reappears to scale to make weight! 264 lbs @GregHardyJr #UFCVegas12 pic.twitter.com/vGaSI08YXQ
— The Schmo (@TheSchmo312) October 30, 2020
Ultimately, Hardy was able to make the weight, but the fact he even initially missed weight for a heavyweight bout is concerning. Hardy waited until the last minutes of the weigh-in to finally step onto the scale, and the fact he couldn’t make the weight limit despite being stripped down nude was troubling. Then again, perhaps he had a faulty scale in his hotel room which led to him initially being heavy. At the end of the day, he did make weight.
Hardy and Greene are set to compete in a grudge match of sorts between two heavyweights who are trying to break into the top-15. Hardy is coming off of a decision win over Yorgan de Castro while Greene defeated Gian Villante in his last fight. Heading into this weekend’s big fight, Hardy said that he feels he’s “reaching assassin level.”
“I’m reaching assassin level, man. I had some valleys to get over, I’m not going to lie. I had to go through some tough times, especially in my last two fights. The last one, I didn’t have to, but I prolonged it just to get some time in the ring. With Volkov, having to figure stuff out and being in there with an assassin, as you saw last weekend,” Greg Hardy said.