UFC president Dana White recently made the proclamation that he's seeking to rid the promotion of the early weigh-in process, and what do you know, we have another issue on our hands ahead of UFC 225. Once again, that issue involves Yoel Romero, one of the headliners of the card.
Ahead of his undisputed middleweight championship bout against champion Robert Whittaker on Saturday night in Chicago, Romero took to the scale Friday morning and he was just a bit off the 185-pound limit. Romero weighed in at 186 pounds, and he was given two hours to hit the required weight from there.
Yoel Romero misses. He’ll get two hours. pic.twitter.com/T7Tj8IkQFG
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 8, 2018
Unfortunately, the two hours were just barely not enough. After taking nearly the full two-hour limit, Romero hit the scale again and he just missed out on the cut, weighing in at 185.2 pounds. After much speculation about whether or not the fight would go on, both fighters appeared at the ceremonial weigh ins and still squared off with commentator Joe Rogan still calling the bout the main event and a title fight.
White later confirmed on Fox Sports 1 that the fight is still on, citing that Romero only missed by 0.2 pounds. White then told gather press that the fight would be a five-round, non-title main event. However, that could present UFC with the same problem it had the last time Romero missed weight.
By missing weight once again, Romero has now earned the unceremonious honor of being the first fighter in UFC history to not make the cut for a championship fight on multiple occasions. He was visibly distraught on stage and noted that he was supposed to get two hours to make the 185-pound limit, but the commission stopped him after one.
In good news from Friday's weigh-ins, though, the co-main event had no issues. Both Colby Covington and Rafael dos Anjos made weight for their interim welterweight championship match set to take place inside the United Center. Here's how the rest of the card weighed in.
| Fight | Weight limit |
|---|---|
Robert Whittaker (185) vs. Yoel Romero (185.2*) | Middleweight (185 pounds) |
Colby Covington (169) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (169) | Welterweight (170 pounds) |
Megan Anderson (146) vs. Holly Holm (146) | Featherweight (145 pounds) |
Andrei Arlovski (249) vs. Tai Tuivasa (261) | Heavyweight (265 pounds) |
CM Punk (169) vs. Mike Jackson (170.5) | Welterweight (170 pounds) |
Curtis Blaydes (254) vs. Alistair Overeem (244) | Heavyweight (265 pounds) |
Carla Esparza (116) vs. Claudia Gadelha (116) | Strawweight (115 pounds) |
Mirsad Bektic (146) vs. Ricardo Lamas (145) | Featherweight (145 pounds) |
Rashad Coulter (247) vs. Chris De La Rocha (261) | Heavyweight (265 pounds) |
Rashad Evans (205) vs. Anthony Smith (206) | Light heavyweight (205 pounds) |
Joseph Benavidez (125.5) vs. Sergio Pettis (126) | Flyweight (125 pounds) |
Clay Guida (154) vs. Charles Oliveira (155) | Lightweight (155 pounds) |
Dan Ige (146) vs. Mike Santiago (145) | Featherweight (145 pounds) |
