Rafael Alves blamed salmon for his historic weight miss.
Rafael Alves’s UFC debut was cancelled after a historically bad weigh-in saw the featherweight miss even the lightweight limit. The Dana White Contender Series signing came in at 157.5 lbs, officially missing the featherweight limit by 11.5 lbs.
Alves blamed the botched weigh-in on the salmon he ate on Thursday.
“I ate salmon yesterday and fell ill, [had] vomit and diarrhea, so the doctor said I had to treat it with [drinking] water,” he told MMA Fighting. “I only had 2kg [4.4 pounds] left to cut, [but] when I drank water my weight went up and got stuck, so the doctor didn’t clear me to fight.”
Alves says he typically weighs at 195 lbs, and will just move to 155 lbs for his future UFC bouts.
“[UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby said that health is what matters now,” Alves said. “He told me this has happened to champions before, and told name to fight at 155 and come back stronger. They won’t cut me because they had to change opponents and they were searching for a new one, some said they would fight at 155 and others at 145, so I didn’t focus on the guy I was fighting nor my weight.
“I’m going to fight at 155 now. I’m focused and nothing will stop me.”
Alves seems to be lucky not to have been cut after such a huge miss, but moving up a division seems to be the right decision based on his heavy walking weight. Hopefully he just eats fresher fish for his next bout.