The look on Daniel Cormier’s face told the whole story on Friday morning when he stepped onto the scale and weighed in at 206.2 pounds for his championship bout against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.
Fighters are not given any extra allowance for title fights so Cormier had to come in at 205-pounds or less to defend his belt on Saturday night in Buffalo.
A dejected Cormier left the room but then returned just a couple of minutes later and the scale read 205-pounds this time around, which meant his title bout was official for UFC 210.
Following a tumultuous morning making weight, Cormier addressed the situation when speaking to FOX Sports after the ceremonial weigh-ins finished up on Friday afternoon.
“It was crazy because I weighed in upstairs and I was like ‘man, I’m OK, I can go down and do this.’ Took a lot longer than normally but we figured we had it done,” Cormier explained. “We went downstairs and the scale was weighing different. So I went in the back and they informed me that New York state rule is that 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.”
Cormier hitting the mark at 205-pounds within minutes of originally weighing 206.2 pounds had just about everybody confused on how that was even possible.
A replay of the second weigh-in showed Cormier had his hands on the towel that was covering him up as he stepped onto the scale leading some to speculate that he was manipulating the scale to allow for the extra difference in weight.
Cormier denied those allegations and said he only had his hands on the towel so he wouldn’t expose himself to the audience sitting just a few feet away from the scale.
“What does doing that do? I don’t understand,” Cormier said about holding the towel. “It’s not something I’ve done before. No, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t show my junk.”
Of course, Cormier was the subject of a lot of chatter on Friday because the typical rule for the early weigh-ins only allows a fighter one shot at making weight. It was later explained that New York has specific rules where the commission will allow competitors in title fights to have up to two additional hours to make the weight.
Despite the distraction, Cormier says none of it really bothered him and he was just happy to make weight so he could turn his focus to the task at hand on Saturday night.
“I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” Cormier said. “What’s going to happen? I would have made weight then or I would have made it two hours later. I had a pound [left] when that scale was weighing the way it was weighing so I would have lost a pound in two hours and still made the weight.”
Cormier did admit that he has struggled with his last couple of weight cuts as he got down to 205 pounds for his championship defenses. Back in 2008 when he was part of the Olympic wrestling team, Cormier was pulled out of the event for medical reasons after suffering through a brutal weight cut ahead of his first match.
“I think the last couple have been tough,” Cormier said. “I’m getting older. I’m 38 years old, fighting in a weight class that I didn’t start my career in. I think maybe it’s FOX, the craft tables are too nice.”
All jokes aside, Cormier looks ready to put the weight cut behind him and prepare for his showdown with Johnson on Saturday night.
