NEW YORK — Thiago Alves missed weight by quite a bit, but he'll still be able to fight Saturday night.
Alves hit the scale at 162.6 pounds, 6.6 over the lightweight limit, on Friday morning at UFC 205 official weigh-ins at the Affinia Manhattan. The fight would have been off had Miller made the usual 155 or 156 pounds due to New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) rules, but he was told Alves missed weight, so he began rehydrating. Miller weighed in at 157.6.
The commission would have pulled the fight had Alves and Miller weighed in more than five pounds apart, per NYSAC rule.
Alves will have to forfeit 20 percent of his purse to Miller, per UFC spokesperson Dave Lockett. He also cannot weigh more than 173 pounds Saturday, according to UFC senior vice president of public relations Dave Sholler. Miller's team and Alves' team came to that agreement backstage Friday at weigh-ins, Sholler said.
Alves, who was attempting to make lightweight for the first time after a long run at welterweight, will have to weigh-in again Saturday a few hours before the fight. It's a dangerous practice because it likely means Alves will have to either not rehydrate all the way or do a dehydration weight cut for a second straight day. One of the major goals of having earlier weigh-ins is to ensure that fighters go into the cage less dehydrated.
There would also be health concerns for Miller, who would be going up against a much bigger fighter if Alves gained even more weight after weighing in at 162.6.
Alves, a longtime American Top Team fighter, had worked with nutrition coach Mike Dolce for years, but was without Dolce this week. Alves said he and the coach had conflicting schedules and working together for UFC 205 did not work out.
"Sad to see Thiago suffer like this," Dolce said in a statement to Ariel Helwani. "Unfortunately, he and his camp chose to take a huge risk and not follow the proven system my team of licensed professionals set up early in his camp. They decided to use an alternate process, not validated through modern science. The Dolce Diet has never had an athlete miss weight. In six years with Thiago, he has always made weight and performed at an elite level. We look forward to seeing him learn from this and continue his world-class career."
Alves told Helwani that he had food poisoning this week and that led to the weight issue.
The fight between Donald Cerrone and Kelvin Gastelum was called off, because Gastelum could not make the welterweight limit and did not even attempt to weigh-in Friday.