The UFC 205 weigh-in have been absolute madness. Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum is now scrapped after Gastelum didn’t make weight, and in fact didn’t even attempt to go on the scales. Cerrone will not be competing on the card at all, leaving UFC 205 with a five-fight main card instead of the originally planned six.
One fight that will go on as scheduled but is otherwise being fought at a catchweight limit is the Fight Pass feature prelim between Thiago Alves and Jim Miller. Alves was due to be making his lightweight debut against Miller, who is making his 25th appearance inside the Octagon. Unfortunately, the longtime welterweight contender’s first foray into 155 was a disaster. Alves came in at 162.6, basically halfway between lightweight and welterweight. Per New York State Athletic Commission rules for lightweight fights, Miller and Alves needed to weigh-in within 5 pounds of each other in order for the fight to go on, so this forced Miller to technically “miss weight” at 157.6 pounds. Alves has been fined 20% of his purse (which will go to Miller), while Miller will not be fined. Additionally, per the NYSAC, Alves cannot weigh heavier than 173 on fight night.
Video of Alves’ weight miss (via Submission Radio) can be viewed at the top of the page.
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor is set for Saturday, November 12th at Madison Square Garden, in what is the promotion’s debut in New York City. Apart from Alves and Miller (only because he had to), everyone else competing tomorrow night who officially weighed in was on target. The full UFC 205 weigh-in results will come in a separate post.
Earlier this week, the Three Amigos Podcast had interviewed Miller and asked him about whether or not he’d accept fights against extremely overweight opposition, such as the case when Ricardo Lamas agreed to fight Charles Oliveira last week, despite Oliveira missing the featherweight limit by 9 pounds. Here’s some of what Miller had to say on the matter, with audio of the question beginning at the 46:06 mark of the Soundcloud player.
“I’m the type that I would do it,” Miller said. “I would fight. But there is a side of me that knows that the only way we’re going to change … I guess the disrespect that some of these guys have for it, is by not taking those fights. By not giving them the opportunity to make a paycheck, and that’s unfortunately kind of what has to be done. I’m a little torn with it. The fighter part of me, the guy that does it because he loves it, it doesn’t matter. Yeah, it would suck cutting weight and going through it, and your opponent not, and still have to fight, but I still want to [fight].”
