In what was supposed to be his middleweight debut, Anthony (Rumble) Johnson missed weight by a stunning 11 pounds on Friday for his UFC 142 co-main event bout against Vitor (The Phenom) Belfort.
Johnson, who had problems making weight when he fought at welterweight, weighed in at 197 pounds, while his opponent made the 185 pounds (with one-pound allowance) for the fight that will take place Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Johnson will surrender 20 per cent of his purse to Belfort, who accepted the fight anyway on one condition. It will now still take place at a catchweight, provided Johnson does not weigh more than 205 pounds on Saturday before the two fighters enter the cage (which is about the weight Belfort can expect to be by fight time, as fighters put weight back on after they’ve weighed in the day before).
According to reports, a medical issue was a factor. MMAweekly.com’s Damon Martin said he was on target to make weight, with only 1.5 pounds to go three hours before weigh-ins, when he started to feel ill. UFC doctors checked on him and forced him to take fluids, which put his weight back up and he could no longer cut in time.
According to Johnson’s manager, Johnson weighed 191.5 pounds when he woke up Friday morning. While a cut of 5.5 pounds may be more than what he should have put him in a position to make on the last day, it’s not uncommon for fighters to shed that much in that timeframe.
Still, UFC president Dana White was not impressed with Johnson, whose move up a weight class was supposed to rid him of past weight cut issues and who said all week he felt great about his status.
“As a fighter, you are a professional,” White said in a press release the UFC sent out even before he Johnson had stepped on the scale. “You are contracted to come in at a certain weight. This is not the first time this has happened with Johnson. He moved up to 185 pound so this wouldn’t happen, and here we are in the same position again.”
In the main event, Brazilian star Jose Aldo was 145 pounds on the number for his featherweight title defence against unbeaten American Chad Mendes (who weighed in at 144).
Johnson (10-3) has failed to make weight twice before when he was cutting to 170 pounds — once in 2007 by 6.5 pounds, and then again in 2009 by 5 pounds. But he had been on target in his past three fights and felt that by moving up and not having to cut as much, he’d be more explosive and have more energy at 185. Yet this is by far the most he’s missed by.
There was no immediate word on why he was so overweight nor any comment from the fighter.
Two Canadians are on the card. Oshawa, Ont.’s Antonio (Pato) Carvalho weighed in at 144 for his UFC debut against Felipe Arantes (145), which will be the first fight of the night. Meanwhile London, Ont.’s Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout and his opponent Thiago Tavares both made 155 pounds for their bout that will be the final one of the preliminary card (which viewers will be able to watch on Sportsnet ONE starting at 8 p.m. ET).
Carvalho was originally supposed to make his UFC debut last August at the first event in Rio under Zuffa ownership but had to pull out with injury. Stout will be fighting for the first time since the sudden death of his longtime coach and brother-in-law Shawn Tompkins.
