A dramatic weigh-in day has left the UFC 225 without a middleweight title fight, although Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero are tentatively scheduled to still fight Saturday night at the United Center in Chicago.
Following Romero’s failure to make the championship weight limit of 185 pounds Friday morning, the Illinois State Athletic Commission gave Romero two additional hours to cut the extra pound after stepping onto the scale at 186 pounds.
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reported that the commission stopped Romero after one hour when the challenge was at 186.2 pounds and visibly affected by the weight cut, according to eyewitnesses. Romero repeated this claim to Joe Rogan at the ceremonial weigh-ins that he was not given the full two hours to cut the weight.
It is the second consecutive fight that Romero has missed weight for at the middleweight division, after weighing 187.7 pounds for his middleweight fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 this past February.
UFC president Dana White told members of the media Friday evening that the fight would remain on the card as a five-round, non-title bout.
The rest of the fighters on the card made weight successfully with results of the weigh-ins listed below.
MAIN CARD (10 pm Eastern on pay-per-view)
*Robert Whittaker (185) vs. Yoel Romero (185.2*)
*Rafael dos Anjos (169) vs. Colby Covington (169) for the interim UFC welterweight title
*Holly Holm (146) vs. Megan Anderson (146)
*Andrei Arlovski (249) vs. Tai Tuivasa (261)
*CM Punk (169) vs. Mike Jackson (170.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (8 pm Eastern on FS 1, TSN 5 in Canada)
*Alistair Overeem (244) vs. Curtis Blaydes (254)
*Claudia Gadelha (116) vs. Carla Esparza (116)
*Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Mirsad Bektic (146)
*Chris De La Rocha (261) vs. Rashad Coulter (247)
FIGHT PASS CARD (6:15 pm)
*Rashad Evans (205) vs. Anthony Smith (206)
*Joseph Benavidez (125.5) vs. Sergio Pettis (126)
*Clay Guida (154) vs. Charles Oliveira (155)
*Mike Santiago (145) vs. Dan Ige (146)
*Missed weight after two attempts, the fight will go proceed as a five-round, non-title fight
