After a week of switch-ups, we almost had another main card reshuffle for UFC 200.
As per the new early weigh-in procedure adopted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for international fight week, all fighters across the three events in Las Vegas were required to take to the scales during a two-hour window on the morning preceding fight day rather than wait for the official broadcast of the weigh-ins in the late afternoon.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate was the last fighter to arrive at the weigh-in room on Friday and she very nearly didn’t make it on time.
#UFC200 headliners @MieshaTate & @Amanda_Leoa battle for the belt LIVE on Pay-Per-View https://t.co/DaHL7wKC0O
— UFC (@ufc) July 8, 2016
If Tate had walked through the door mere minutes later, the title fight with Amanda Nunes would have been cancelled while if ‘Cupcake’ didn’t make the weight limit, she would have been stripped of the title and the fight would go ahead but without the belt on the line.
Luckily she arrived under the championship weight limit, making 134.5 lbs, and the fight will go ahead as planned and her head coach Robert Follis has since detailed where the delay came from.
“It was just a little bit tougher than we’re used to, but it wasn’t outrageous,” Xtreme Couture’s Follis said, as transcribed by MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi. “It just took a little bit longer than what we’re used to. Just her body wasn’t letting the water go as well as it normally does. But it wasn’t a big deal, either.
“We planned for a title fight and obviously missing it was a big deal. We were confident we were gonna make it, but you never know until you get on the official scale. Our scale said we were on and we were waiting to get on the official one, make sure there wasn’t any discrepancy.”
