Michael Chiesa Misses Weight for UFC 226, Announces Move to Welterweight
Michael Chiesa waited an extra three months for his UFC 226 lightweight bout with Anthony Pettis to happen, but then he hit the scale and missed the mark.
Chiesa and Pettis were originally supposed to fight at UFC 223 on April 7 in Brooklyn, N.Y., but their fight was nixed in the final 48 hours. Chiesa was one of two fighters injured when Conor McGregor attacked a busload of fighters. He was removed from the fight as a result.
Now, three months later, Chiesa and Pettis were rescheduled for the biggest fight card of the year thus far, as UFC 226 is the cornerstone of International Fight Week.
Looking gaunt, unbalanced, and extremely drained, Chiesa stepped on the scale at 157.5 pounds, missing the mark for a lightweight non-title fight by 1.5 pounds. After missing weight, Chiesa announced that he was done at lightweight and would not fight there again.
"This will be my last fight at 155, screw that," Chiesa said before stepping off the scale.
Chiesa won Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2012 as a lightweight, but now, six years later and 30 years of age, he is apparently no longer willing to make the difficult cut down to 155 pounds.
[UDPATE] Pettis took nearly the full allotted two-hour time period to make his way to the scale, stepping behind a UFC towel to make the mark at 156 pounds on the nose.
UFC officials had not confirmed that Pettis had accepted the fight as of the time of publication, but after cutting down to the 156-pound limit, it is likely that the fight will move forward. Generally, when one fighter misses weight so narrowly, his opponent receives 20-percent of the fight purse of the fighter missing weight.
[UPDATE] After much discussion, UFC officials confirmed that Chiesa agreed to give Pettis 30-percent of his fight purse in order to keep the fight intact.
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Michael Chiesa Misses Weight, Announces He's Done at Lightweight
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