MMA fans were let down on Friday afternoon when they found out that Khabib Nurmagomedov was backing out of his fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 209 due to weight cutting issues. Nurmagomedov failed to appear at Friday’s weigh-ins after he was hospitalized less than 24 hours earlier because he failed to cut weight in time for his bout with El Cucuy.
As much as fans were looking forward to this bout, Nurmagomedov’s health is what really matters in this situation. Even Ferguson was a good sport about the entire thing, even after the two exchanged chirps all week long.
After all, this isn’t the first time a UFC main card has been affected due to weight cutting issues. Here are a few times main cards were recently affected by weight cutting.
UFC 206: Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis
Although the fight between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis wasn’t scrapped from the main card at UFC 206 in Toronto, it certainly affected the overall value of the card. Holloway and Pettis were expected to go toe-to-toe for the interim featherweight title. However, Pettis weighed in three pounds overweight, which took him out of contention if he had won.
UFC 205: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Donald Cerrone
Kelvin Gastelum and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone were expected to go toe-to-toe on one of the biggest UFC cards in the history of the promotion at UFC 205 in New York, but the fight was called off after Gastelum failed to show up for the weigh-ins. Instead, he took to Twitter to announce that his bout against Cowboy was off because he failed to make the weight limit.
Instead of lining Cerrone up with a last-second opponent, the UFC added him to the UFC 206 main card in Toronto where he knocked out Matt Brown via a head kick.
UFC 192: Johny Hendricks vs. Tyron Woodley
UFC 209 is pretty much UFC 192 all over again. Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley were expected to go toe-to-toe in the co-main event at UFC 192 in Houston, but the fight was called off after Hendricks pulled out of the fight on the day of the weigh-ins due to kidney stones and intestinal blockage he experienced during the weight cutting process. Just like Khabib, Hendricks needed to be hospitalized due to this.
Fights get replaced on cards due to injuries all the time, but it’s a little scary when fights get removed because someone gets hospitalized due to the way they were weight cutting for that minute they need to stand on the scale.
Fighters sign up to fight in a certain weight class, so they know what’s expected of them. However, they need to find healthier alternatives to prepare themselves for weigh-ins, because no profession is worth getting hospitalized over.
