Light Heavyweight Champ Daniel Cormier Addresses UFC 210 Weigh-in Controversy
When Daniel Cormier initially tipped the scales at 206.2 pounds on Friday morning, it appeared that his status as UFC light heavyweight champion could be in jeopardy.
Advertisement
“It was crazy, I weighed in upstairs and I was like ‘Man I’m OK, I’m going to do this,’’ Cormier said on FOX Sports 1. “It took a lot longer than normal, but we figured we had it done, the scale was weighing different.”
Normally, Cormier would have been required to forfeit his belt
under new weigh-in protocol, but New York rules are a little bit
different.
“We went in the back and they informed me that the New York state rule is you can actually re-weigh, and if you don’t make it, you have two hours to actually make the weight, so I started feeling pretty confident after that,” he said.
“I would have made weight then or made it two hours later,” Cormier continued. “I had a pound when the scale was weighing the way it was weighing, I would have lost a pound in two hours and still made weight.”
However, when Cormier weighed in for a second time, he appeared to push down on the towel held in front of him, which could have manipulated the reading on the scale. The American Kickboxing Academy product pleaded ignorance to any knowledge of such a trick.
“I didn’t want you guys to see my junk,” Cormier explained to assembled media. “What does doing that do? I don’t understand. It’s not something I’ve done before. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t show my junk.”
Here's Cormier on the towel pic.twitter.com/wtZEgpGAja
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 7, 2017
Regardless, it is clear that making the 205-pound limit is becoming increasingly difficult for Cormier, who started out in the sport as a heavyweight. Even after a dramatic morning, the champ managed to maintain a sense of humor about the whole situation.
“The last couple [weight cuts] have been tough,” Cormier said. “I’m getting older, I’m 38 years old, fighting in a weight class I didn’t start my career in. I think maybe it’s Fox. The craft tables are too nice.”
Related Articles
