UFC 200 Early Weigh-In’s Complete; Almost Lost Main Event

Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

You have to wonder what the blood pressure of UFC officials have been these last couple days.

Since its trial run at UFC 199 in June, fighters have been following a new weigh-in procedure. Instead of the traditional day-before weigh in at 4pm PST, fighters now have a two-hour period to make weight the morning the day before the fight, giving them extra time to rehydrate and recover from the cut. The fighters then do the traditional televised weigh in for the fans and media that afternoon with the weight recorded earlier by the state athletic commission announced.

While the last four fight weigh in’s, including this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 90 and the Ultimate Fighter Finale Season 23, received positive feedback from the new procedure, it would only be typical for the weekends headlining card UFC 200 to have one fighter miss weight and the new main event to almost get pulled.

UFC Welterweight (well…sometimes) Johny Hendricks weighed in minutes before the 10am PST cut off at 171.25, .25 over the one-pound allowance for the division. This is not the first time ‘Big Rigg’ has tipped the scale over the limit. Unlike the customary weigh-in regulations, under the new procedure fighters do not have an additional hour to lose the rest of the weight, resulting in 20% of Hendricks’ purse to be forfeited to his opponent Kelvin Gastelum, who met weight at 171.

Now for the real nail biter. Less than 24 hours ago, UFC President Dana White announced the new main event for UFC 200 is the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship bout between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes. Tate kept officials holding their breath when she arrived at the official weigh in moments before the cut off time, stepping on the scale at exactly 10am PST.

With the help of a few towels, Tate made championship weight at 134.5. Should Tate have not made weight, the fight would have been changed to a non-title bout. Should the champ have attempted to step on the scale a minute past the cut off time, the main event would have been pulled from the card completely.

With the exception of Hendricks, all fighters have made weight for their respective weight classes and are in the books ready to put on a show in this whirlwind of a mega-card.

Weigh-in Results

Main Card

Miesha Tate 134.5 vs. Amanda Nunes 135.0

Brock Lesnar 265.5 vs. Mark Hunt 264.5

Daniel Cormier 206.0 vs Anderson Silva 198.5

Jose Aldo 145 vs Frankie Edgar 144.5

Cain Velasquez 242.5 vs. Travis Browne 244.0

FOX Sports 1 Prelims

Cat Zingano 135.5 vs. Julianna Pena 135.5

Johny Hendricks 171.25 vs. Kelvin Gastelum 171.0

T.J. Dillashaw 136.0 vs. Raphael Assuncao 135.5

Sage Northcutt 156.0 vs. Enrique Marin 156.0

Fight Pass Prelims

Diego Sanchez 155.0 vs. Joe Lauzon 156.0

Gegard Mousasi 185.5 vs. Thiago Santos 186.0

Jim Miller 155.5 vs. Takanori Gomi 156.0

The historical event kicks off Saturday night at 6:30pm EST with the UFC Fight Pass Prelims on UFC Fight Pass, followed by the UFC 200 Prelims at 8pm EST on Fox Sports 1 and UFC 200 Main Card on Pay-Per-View