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Rafael Alves has opened up about the reason he missed weight by a huge margin at Friday's UFC Vegas 19 weigh-ins.
Rafael Alves weighed in an astounding 11.5 pounds over the featherweight limit when he stepped on the scale for his promotional debut against Pat Sabatini. Alves had earned the opportunity with a guillotine choke submission win over Alejandro Flores at Dana White's Contender Series last April.
In his first interview since he hit the scales on Friday, Rafael Alves told MMA Fighting via text message that food poisoning was to blame for the botched weight-cut. He said he had consumed salmon the day before the weigh-ins and got diarrhea. He was prescribed to drink water for the dehydration by a doctor.
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When the food poisoning happened, Alves only had around 4.4 pounds left to cut, but the water took his weight up. It became extremely difficult for the featherweight to cut weight after that and he had to weigh in at 157.5 pounds.
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"I ate salmon yesterday and fell ill and had diarrhea, so the doctor said I had to treat it by drinking water. 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. But God owns everything and He knows what He does," said Alves.
This is the biggest weight miss in UFC history.
Also read: 5 biggest weight misses in UFC history
Owing to the botched weight cut, the fight has now been canceled and UFC has not announced a rebooking of the bout yet. However, in Rafale Alves' own words, UFC will not be firing him over the incident.
UFC will not cut Rafael Alves despite record weight miss
Rafael Alves also shared that he has been assured by UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby that his health is of top priority now and he does not need to worry about being cut. Rafael Alves is confident about finding his way back despite all the criticisms coming his way right now.
"Sean Shelby said that health is what matters now. He told me this has happened to champions before. 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," said Alves.
"But I’m going to fight at 155 now. I’m focused and nothing will stop me. I know a lot of people are criticizing me, but I don’t care. Jesus was God’s son and he was criticized despite all his power, so imagine me, a flawed man on Earth? But thank God the UFC hasn’t said they will cut me, so I’ll be back soon," Alves added.
