Anthony Johnson | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

(The moral of the story? When Gina Carano does it, it’s awesome. When Paulo Filho does it, it’s terrible. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Anybody can be forgiven for missing weight by a half-pound — as long as it doesn’t become a habit. But when an MMA fighter comes in a full four pounds heavy, as Efrain Escudero did this week for his doomed UFC Fight Night 22 bout against Charles Oliveira, it tends to raise some eyebrows. As we’ve done previously with steroid busts, we decided to catalog the worst scale-fails in MMA history, arranged by number of pounds over the limit. When the information was available, we also listed the punishments the fighters were given, along with their excuses for missing weight, which range from injuries to salt water to the dreaded "menstrual period." This is by no means a definitive list — but we’d like it be, eventually. So if you know of any other occasions where fighters missed weight by four pounds or more, or missed weight for multiple fights, please let us know in the comments section.

Nick Diaz @ EliteXC: Return of the King
Weigh-in date: 6/13/08
Weight: 169.5, 9.5 over limit
Punishment: Diaz forfeited a portion of his fight purse to his opponent, Muhsin Corbbrey.
Fight result: Diaz by third-round TKO
Excuse: After arriving in Hawaii, Diaz said he "went in the salt water and absorbed a lot of sodium or something." In Cesar Gracie’s version of the tale, Diaz got sick after accidentally ingesting the water. Nick reached out to Corbbrey when the weight-cut was looking grim, and made a deal to hold the bout at a catchweight.

Dale Hartt @ Ringside 7: No Escape
Weigh-in date: 6/17/10
Weight: 163.4 pounds, 8.4 over limit
Fight result: Hartt lost to Guillaume DeLorenzi by second-round TKO (shoulder injury)

If you’re new to the sport of MMA you may be thinking right now ‘Anthony Johnson…why does that name sound so familiar?’ Well, although Johnson hasn’t fought since last November due to a knee injury, if you tune into Spike regularly you’ve probably seen more than a few highlights of him leaving dudes in an unconscious heap. Well, according to a report from MMA Weekly, due to Johnson’s aforementioned knee injury and subsequent surgery, the already massive welterweight has just a wee bit of weight to lose before returning to action this fall. Source? Johnson’s agent Ken Pavia recently said this on MMA Weekly Radio:

“Anthony Johnson at one point weighed the same as Ricco Rodriguez, which is kind of scary. He weighed the same as Ricco Rodriguez, except he had abs,” …”He had a knee injury. He had surgery, took some time off to let it heal, it was giving him some problems, but now he’s in rehab and doing rehab for his knee.”

Now, if you’re a long time observer of the sport you may be thinking ‘dear God, which Ricco are we talking about?’ As let’s face it, the former UFC champ’s weight hasn’t exactly been static over the last few years…Well, the report clarified that Johnson got up to 230 at one point… So, due to being on the DL for quite some time and the need to shed a lil weight, Pavia also told MMA Weekly that they are looking at October / November for Johnson’s return. And yes, middleweight is an option.

Things are always more violent when Johnson’s around- it will be good to see him back.

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Anthony Johnson to Return in Fall- Possibly at Middleweight