UFC 221: Yoel Romero misses weight, only Luke Rockhold can win interim title

At the UFC 221 weigh-ins in Australia, Luke Rockhold weighed in at exactly 185 pounds for his interim middleweight title fight vs. Yoel Romero, but the Cuban came in well over at 188.8 pounds, jeopardizing Saturday’s main event.

Given an extra two hours to lose 3.3 pounds, Romero only got himself down to 187.7, making him ineligible to win the interim belt. In other words, if he wins against Rockhold, no belt is awarded, but if Rockhold wins, he gets the interim title. This was the same case back at UFC 206, when Anthony Pettis was overweight for an interim featherweight championship bout vs. Max Holloway.

Of course, this is all assuming that we see Romero vs. Rockhold at all. If we do, presumably Rockhold will ask for a significant cut of Romero’s purse. Rockhold certainly wasn’t pleased when he heard Romero missed weight.

Ariel Helwani has the latest update on the situation, adding that the fight isn’t a done deal yet.

Update: Looks like we have a fight.

Watch Romero’s second attempt in the video below, courtesy of Submission Radio;