Many UFC fans are questioning Khabib Nurmagomedov’s weigh-in attempt before his UFC Lightweight Championship bout against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 this Saturday.
Nurmagomedov looked relieved after officially weighing in at 155 pounds, but fans are instead focused on the balance beam on the scales, which appears to have still been moving at the time it was determined the champion had made weight.
Is it a big deal? Ant Walker and Matthew Wells don’t really think so.
Wells says that fans are grasping at straws. It looks like he was close enough to the limit and there’s really nothing here to worry about. It’d take one incredibly coordinated effort by the UFC to somehow manage to pass Nurmagomedov despite being noticeably over the 155-pound limit.
Walker does point out that unlike former weigh-in controversies, such as when Nurmagomedov’s teammate Daniel Cormier held the towel at UFC 210, this weigh-in was not in front of a US-based sports commission and instead, because the event is in Abu Dhabi, UFC employees were therefore responsible for the weigh-in process. As the UFC is currently operating in self-regulated territory, Walker does go on to say that there’s no way the UFC would risk having Robert Whittaker vs. Jared Cannonier as the PPV main event this weekend and would likely do their best to keep that main event together.
Walker reminds fans of the strange recent news that stated Daniel Cormier tested positive for COVID-19 in the lead-up to his last bout against Stipe Miocic. The UFC clearly hid those details from the public and progressed with the fight anyway.
Wells, too, wouldn’t be surprised to see the UFC pull something shady in Abu Dhabi, but ultimately believes that there’s such little impact on the fight this weekend that we should all move on from this already.
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