UFC 325 loses fight after controversial weigh-in failure

Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes are just a day away from settling their score once and for all.

Ahead of their featherweight championship main event rematch at UFC 325, Volkanovski and Lopes both successfully hit the limit for a UFC title fight, with Volkanovski stepping to the scales at 144.5 pounds and Lopes at 145 pounds.

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Volkanovski defeated Lopes via unanimous decision to capture a vacant belt at UFC 314 in April, making “The Great” a two-time featherweight champion. Lopes then fought Jean Silva the following September, scoring a spectacular knockout over Silva to keep his name in the contender mix and eventually get his second crack at Volkanovski, who hasn’t fought since their first encounter.

Co-main event lightweights Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint Denis also successfully made weight with both making use of the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight and registering at 155.75 pounds.

Of the 28 fighters competing Saturday, Aaron Tau was the lone miss, and it was a strange—and costly—one. Tau was the last fighter to weigh in, arriving about 90 minutes into the official window. The Road to UFC flyweight tournament finalist stripped down and was concealed behind a box for his weigh-in, which the commission appeared to struggle with as they took several minutes to register a number.

Surprisingly, Tau came in well under the limit at 122.5 pounds. This immediately raised suspicion and Tau was asked to weigh in again without the box after dressing. He then came in at 129 pounds. Somehow, Tau went from 3.5 pounds under to three pounds over the non-title flyweight limit.

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Soon after, it was announced on the UFC’s official morning weigh-in show that Tau’s Road to UFC tournament final bout against Namsrai Batbayar has been cancelled.

At the desk, Chris Weidman and RJ Clifford questioned if Tau, who flexed while weighing in behind the box, was touching the sides of the curtain with his elbows.

Judge for yourself.