Willie Whitehead misses weight by 14 pounds, Bellator 204 fight with Romero Cotton still on

Willie Whitehead came in way over the middleweight limit for his upcoming bout at Bellator 204, but it was close enough for opponent Romero Cotton and the South Dakota Athletic Commission.

At the weigh-ins for Friday’s Bellator event at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, Whitehead tipped the scales at 200.2 pounds, well over the 185-pound limit (including the extra one-pound allowance). Despite the massive miss, SDAC rules dictate that a bout will only be automatically called off if a fighter is “ten percent above the originally scheduled weight class” (except for the super heavyweight division).

That meant Whitehead could weigh up to 18.5 pounds over the middleweight limit and in this case, he was heavy by 14.2 pounds. With Whitehead in those parameters, the next step of negotiations were left in the hands of Bellator and the fighters involved.

MMA Fighting confirmed with officials that Romero has agreed to fight Whitehead. A bout between Tywan Claxton and Cris Lencioni will also proceed as scheduled after Lencioni missed the featherweight mark by 2.4 pounds.

Whitehead and Lencioni will also forfeit 20 percent of their purse to Romero and Claxton, respectively, per MMAjunkie.

Check out the full weigh-in results and video here.