Dana White must have been pulling his ha…t out over the drama at the UFC 200 weigh-ins.
Everything was going so swimmingly.
Conor McGregor rather soundly got all his retirement drama out of the way well in advance of the card, but the back-up main event, the rematch of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title was scrapped two days before fight night after Jones failed a random drug test before the fight.
The new main event was set as Miesha Tate’s first defence of her women’s bantamweight crown against Amanda Nunes, with Cormier getting late notice replacement Anderson Silva in a three-round light-heavyweight non-title contest further down the bill.
Less than 24 hours before the official weigh-ins for the card, the champion posted an image on Instagram claiming that she was 11 lbs over the limit. However, the smile washed across her face led us to believe that this was all part of the plan, that everything will fall into place like it always does for Cupcake and she’d come in on weight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHk3kpgDbc1/
When the fighters started hitting the scales, the tension started mounting as Tate was above the limit. However, she still had time to work with before the deadline.
Perpetual weight limit missers Kelvin Gastelum and Johny Hendricks both weighed in over 170 lbs at their first run. They also faced a serious race against time to get shed that last bit of poundage.
Tate, Gastelum and Hendricks have 18 minutes to weigh-in.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 8, 2016
Tate returned just in the nick of time, but required the towel while hitting the scales. She weighed in at 0.5 lbs under the limit and Uncle Dana could breathe a sigh of relief with the knowledge that his new main event wouldn’t have to be downgraded from a title-fight, which would likely have happened if Tate came in over.
With literally no time left, Miesha Tate hits 134.5. Whew. Needed the towel. Crazy tension in this room. pic.twitter.com/NHjiKia0Nu
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) July 8, 2016
Kelvin Gastelum just about made the cut as well, weighing in at 171 lb, but Hendricks wasn’t as lucky.
The former welterweight champion weighed in 0.25 lbs over the limit, meaning he will forfeit 20% of his purse to his opponent, Gastelum.
Johny Hendricks is 171.25 with four minutes to go. He was trembling. pic.twitter.com/Nob4C8TUE6
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) July 8, 2016
