Just when you thought UFC 221 couldn’t get any worse, Yoel Romero (pictured) decided to miss weight.
Romero, who meets Luke Rockhold for the vacant UFC interim middleweight title in Saturday’s main event, weighed 188 on his first trip to the scale. He was granted two additional hours to hit the required 185 pound limit for a middleweight title tilt, but only managed to drop to 187.7 pounds.
Rockhold, meanwhile, came in at 185 pounds on the dot.
The fight will go on as scheduled. However, Romero will not capture the belt if he wins. Rockhold will become the interim champ with a victory over the “Soldier of God.”
You’d think Dana White was blowing a gasket for Romero’s blunder, but the UFC president is giving Romero a pass because he accepted the fight on short notice after middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was forced to pull out of his bout with Rockhold with a bad staph infection.
“Romero took this fight on short notice when Whittaker fell out and he didn’t get a full camp,” White texted ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto. “I appreciate him stepping up and taking the fight. If wins he doesn’t get the belt, if Rockhold wins he’s the interim champ”
Rockhold, on the other hand, was none too pleased with his opponent:
Should have be doing the salsa in the sauna. Some bullshit as usual
— Luke Rockhold (@LukeRockhold) February 10, 2018
Heavyweights Mark Hunt and Curtis Blaydes meet in tomorrow’s co-featured contest.
Perth Arena in Perth, Australia hosts the festivities.
Here are the official results from Friday’s weigh-ins:
Preliminary Card:
(UFC Fight Pass 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT)
Mizuto Hirota (156) vs. Ross Pearson (156)
Teruto Ishihara (135.5) vs. Jose Quinonez (135)
Daichi Abe (170.5) vs. Luke Jumeau (170.5)
(Fox Sports 1 8PM ET/5PM PT)
Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Ben Nguyen (125.5)
Jeremy Kennedy (145) vs. Alex Volkanovski (145.5)
Israel Adesanya (183) vs. Rob Wilkinson (186)
Damien Brown (156) vs. “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim (156)
Main Card:
(Pay-Per-View 10PM ET/7PM PT)
Tyson Pedro (205) vs. Saparbek Safarov (204.5)
Li Jingliang (170) vs. Jake Matthews (170.5)
Cyril Asker (243.5) vs. Tai Tuivasa (263.5)
Curtis Blaydes (255.5) vs. Mark Hunt (265)
Luke Rockhold (185) vs. Yoel Romero (187.7)* – for UFC interim middleweight title
* – Weighed 188 on first attempt, then missed weight (187.7) on second try
Please click the media player below to watch the weigh-ins:
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