NYSAC amends weigh-in rules following Daniel Cormier’s ‘towelgate’ incident

Prior to UFC 210 last month, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier caught quite a bit of controversy for his early weigh-in on Friday morning.

Cormier stepped onto the scale and missed weight on his first attempt, weighing in above the light heavyweight title fight limit of 205 pounds. Just over a minute later, Cormier reemerged from backstage, and stepped on the scale to weigh in once again. This time, Cormier pressed his hands down on the privacy towel, offsetting his weight so as to weigh-in at 205 without actually having to cut the weight.

The move was an extremely controversial one, which saw the New York State Athletic Commission receive quite a bit of criticism for allowing Cormier to hold onto the privacy towel. While the commission claimed to have never seen Cormier holding onto the towel, video footage proved otherwise.

Now, on the heels of Cormier’s infamous weigh-in, the NYSAC has amended their rules for weigh-ins.

MMAFighting has the wording for the new rule:

“When on the scale, the combatant shall stand still with his or her feet flat upon the scale and shall not make physical contact with any person or object other than the scale. No other person shall touch the scale when a combatant is in the act of weighing in. While on the scale, the combatant shall follow any direction issued by the Commission.”

“In the discretion of the Commission, a combatant may be directed to immediately retake the scale to ensure that the combatant’s weight was accurately assessed.”

Interestingly enough, the new wording clearly outlines the policy for if a fighter involved in a championship fight is unable to make weight, clarifying the rules for a fighter involved in a championship fight weighing-in after missing weight the first time. The new wording clarifies that regardless of whether or not fighters are competing in a championship fight, they do indeed have two more hours to make weight.

on 5/26/2017.