UFC 142: Anthony Johnson cut, Erick Silva paid win bonus

At UFC 142, Anthony Johnson had hoped that his weight-cutting issues were behind him; however, that wasn’t the case at Friday’s weigh-ins—and the former welterweight’s UFC career was ended as a result.

“Rumble” will likely be released by the promotion following his third failed weight cut, as well as his Saturday night loss to Vitor Belfort, according to UFC President Dana White.

“To be honest with you, we’re probably gonna cut him after this event,” White said in a post-fight interview with Fuel TV. “Three strikes and you’re out. This is his third time that he hasn’t made weight. He’s the co-main event in a huge fight down here in Brazil and this one was a bad one.”

Formerly, Johnson was a 170-pound standout who made the move up to middleweight to fight Belfort—but hit the scale at an astounding 197 pounds during Friday’s official weigh-ins. Consequently, Belfort was granted 20 percent of Johnson’s purse, and Johnson was given a mandate to weight no more than 205 pounds by noon on Saturday.

“Rumble Johnson did the damage to himself,” White said. “To be that unprofessional and not come in on weight, and to be that far off when you used to fight at 170, now you went to 185 pounds so you wouldn’t have trouble making weight, and this is your worst weight cut ever? That’s at a detriment to himself.”

Johnson’s previous weight-cut mishaps occurred at a welterweight bout with Rich Clementi in September 2007 and against Yoshiyuki Toshida in October 2009, although neither incident was as extreme as Saturday’s embarrassment. Johnson’s camp claimed that fluids administered by a doctor were the cause of his increased weight. The 27-year-old fighter claimed that he explained the situation to White and said he felt “no bad vibes.”

“Everything seemed all good to me,” Johnson said in an interview prior to White’s announcement. “I think he understood what happened, but what can I say, you know?”

Meanwhile, one UFC welterweight’s work was rewarded on Saturday night, even if his record will not show a victory.

White said at the UFC 142 post-fight press conference that Brazilian 170-pounder Erick Silva will receive his win bonus from his bout against Carlo Prater. Silva was disqualified from the match by referee Mario Yamasaki at the 29-second mark of the first round after landing hammerfists on a stunned Prater, some of which hit the illegal area on the back of the head.

“We’re gonna pay him like he won the fight,” White stated. “I would appeal it if I was him.”

Related posts:
MMA - Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben agree to meet at UFC 132 (Ryan Kiosow) 0
MMA - Silva vs. Belfort targeted for early 2011 (Ryan Kiosow) 0
MMA - Chael Sonnen rematch up next for Anderson Silva (Ryan Kiosow) 0
MMA - Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson targeted for March (Ryan Kiosow) 0
MMA - Georges St-Pierre isn’t worried about Anderson Silva (Ryan Kiosow) 0

Comments