According to Johnson’s manager, Glenn Robinson, Johnson awakened Friday at 191 1/2, easily within range to make the weight. But three hours before the start of the weigh-in, Johnson got ill and called a doctor.
“His coaches called Burt [Watson, the UFC site coordinator] and Burt called the doctor,” Robinson said. “The doctor had him drink a ton of fluid, just a ton of it. By the time he got to the point where he felt better, it was just 45 minutes before the weigh-in and there was no time to make it.”
Robinson said it was “a medical issue” and said that Johnson had “trained better and eaten healthier than he ever had. Johnson had struggled greatly in the past to make 170 and at UFC 104 in 2009, missed weight by five pounds.
But Robinson said Friday that Johnson apologized to White and was disappointed by missing, but said because it was a medical issue, there is nothing he could have done. Johnson was fined 20 percent of his purse, which will go to Belfort. He must re-weigh on Saturday morning and can not rehydrate to more than 205 pounds, per Belfort’s request. If he is over 205, the fight will be off.
