During the Fuel TV telecast of the UFC 142 weigh-ins Friday, UFC President Dana White announced that Anthony Johnson would not make weight.
However, opponent Vitor Belfort agreed to continue with the bout if Johnson is not over 205 pounds before he enters the cage Saturday. Johnson weighed in at 197, 11 pounds over the 186-pound limit and will forfeit 20% of his fight purse. As of a conference call just over a week ago, Johnson said he was 218 pounds.
This was to be Johnson's UFC debut at middleweight after a long run at welterweight which Johnson struggled to make the cut at. At UFC 76, Johnson faced Rich Clementi and missed weight by 6.5 pounds. At UFC 104, he missed weight by six pounds in a bout against Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
The 27-year-old was actually tabbed for the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter but then-manager Ken Pavia was concerned about his ability to make 170 pounds potentially three times in six weeks.
On the Fuel broadcast, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones called Johnson "extremely unprofessional." White's full comment from Fuel TV is below:
"Rumble" Johnson is not on weight today and when I say he's not on weight, he's way off weight. This is not the first time this has happened with Johnson. He moved up to 185 pounds, so this wouldn't happen to him at 170 pounds and here we are in the same position. Belfort came in like a professional on weight and Anthony Johnson comes in as a total unprofessional...way overweight.
The stipulation is Vitor does not want him to weigh more than 205 pounds by tomorrow, so we will see how this plays out. He'll weigh in today and have to weigh in tomorrow. As a fighter, you are a professional. You are contracted to come in at a certain weight."
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