Here's NYSAC executive director Tony Giardina explaining why Cormier was allowed to weigh in twice: pic.twitter.com/vxzpcnrT9y
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 7, 2017
Friday morning, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier stepped on the scale for early weigh-ins ahead of his UFC 210 title fight with Anthony Johnson tomorrow night.
Cormier left those in attendance stunned as he missed weight by 1.2 pounds, weighing in at 206.2 pounds for the title fight, when the required weight for title fights at light heavyweight is 205 pounds. Interestingly enough, just moments after Cormier missed weight, the UFC light heavyweight champion then stepped on the scale for a second time and miraculously made weight, just two minutes after he missed weight by 1.2 pounds. This caused quite a bit of controversy as Cormier was caught on video pressing down on the towel covering him in order to offset his weight.
Cormier’s weigh-in controversy overshadowed UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson weighing-in two pounds under the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds.
Following the bizarre and controversial weigh-in sequence from Daniel Cormier, the NYSAC Executive Director fielded questions from media members in attendance, who were still attempting to process the bizarre situation.
One interesting quote that was caught on a separate video was the NYSAC executive director stating that Cormier “wasn’t holding the towel” during his second weigh-in attempt, insinuating that the champ miraculously cut 1.2 pounds in just over two minutes.
Check it out:
NYSAC pic.twitter.com/PouFshwHoD
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 7, 2017
This likely will create quite a bit of controversy as more and more footage has continued to emerge of the champ holding onto the towel, and celebrating with officials after he made weight on his second attempt.
Regardless of the situation which occurred Friday morning, Cormier and Johnson will step into the Octagon Saturday night and fight for the light heavyweight championship!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/7/2017.