Cormier, Johnson narrowly make weight in dramatic fashion for UFC 210
Daniel Cormier's title defense against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson for Saturday's UFC 210 event in Buffalo is set, but the bout appeared to be in serious jeopardy after a dramatic series of events at Friday's weigh-in.
Both Cormier and Johnson were nowhere to be seen with minutes remaining before the deadline. The light heavyweight champion arrived first and missed weight initially, coming in at 206.2 pounds. Cormier then disappeared for a few minutes before coming back out and making weight, hitting 205 pounds exactly.
Related - Watch: Cormier misses weight, then somehow loses 1.2 lbs in mere minutes
Johnson quickly followed Cormier's second weigh-in and came in at 203.8 pounds with seconds to spare before the 11 a.m. ET deadline, making the fight officially on.
Media members in attendance were shocked the UFC allowed Cormier to step on the scale again.
It was always my understanding you only get one shot at the early weigh-ins. That's why fighters have a 2 hour window to hit the scale.
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 7, 2017
As far as why/how Cormier was able to weigh in twice, no word from the NYSAC commission just yet. We're told they will speak shortly.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 7, 2017
NYSAC executive director Anthony Giardina explained to the media afterward that, for title bouts only, a fighter who misses weight is given up to two hours to hit the necessary mark, according to MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani.
Cormier looked shaky during his first weigh-in, moving slowly toward the scales. But he and his camp cheered after the second attempt.
If Cormier's initial weight stood, the fight could've still taken place, but it couldn't have been a title bout, and the champion would've been fined.
Cormier and Johnson weren't the only ones who left things late. Strawweight Pearl Gonzalez, who's making her UFC debut, arrived around 10 minutes before the deadline. She, too, was able to make weight.
Here are the complete weigh-in results, according to MMAFighting.com's Bryan Tucker:
Main Card
Daniel Cormier (205) vs. Anthony Johnson (203.8)
Chris Weidman (185.8) vs. Gegard Mousasi (185.8)
Cynthia Calvillo (115.6) vs. Pearl Gonzalez (116)
Thiago Alves (170.6) vs. Patrick Cote (170)
Will Brooks (155.4) vs. Charles Oliveira (152.8)
Preliminaries
Myles Jury (145) vs. Mike De La Torre (146)
Kamaru Usman (170.2) vs. Sean Strickland (170)
Charles Rosa (145.2) vs. Shane Burgos (146)
Patrick Cummins (205.4) vs. Jan Blachowicz (204.2)
Fight Pass Preliminaries
Gregor Gillespie (154.8) vs. Andrew Holbrook (156)
Josh Emmett (155.6) vs. Desmond Green (154.2)
Katlyn Chookagian (134.8) vs. Irene Aldana (135.6)
Jenel Lausa (124.8) vs. Magomed Bibulatov (126)