There was almost panic in the UFC yesterday at the weigh-in for tonight's main event.
After losing Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, and then Jon Jones for the main events already, the rescheduled Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes title fight was almost hit with another withdrawal.
Tate was minutes away from missing the weigh-in, and barely made weight by 0.5 pounds. The drama started on Thursday when Tate posted this instagram picture suggesting she was 11 pounds overweight:
Shedding 11 pounds in 24 hours would be a challenge, and naturally enough - rumours starting flying around that Tate wasn't going to make the weight.
In that case, Tate would be stripped of her title. The fight would still go ahead, but it wouldn't be a title fight.
With minutes to go before the deadline, Tate hadn't shown up to the weigh-in. The tension in the room was unbearable.
Then, Tate appeared, and the towel was called for. The towel means that Tate was close to going over weight with her clothes on, and to give her every chance of making weight - the towel was used to cover her modesty.
It worked, she made it with almost nothing to spare.
With literally no time left, Miesha Tate hits 134.5. Whew. Needed the towel. Crazy tension in this room. pic.twitter.com/NHjiKia0Nu
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) July 8, 2016
Rob Follis, her coach, explains just how close things got:
