Oliveira, who will share the evening’s co-main event spot with former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks, was expected to weigh in at no more than 156 lbs – the limit for non-title lightweight fights. Instead, the talented Brazilian tipped the scales at 161.5 for a miss of a whopping 5.5 lbs.
Oliveira’s massive weigh-in miss gives Brooks the option of scrapping the planned fight. Instead of bailing on the bout, however, Brooks will proceed as originally planned, and receive 20% of Oliveira’s purse for his troubles. Yet even in spite of this increased payday, he’s not especially happy with his foe’s weigh-in hiccup.
In the moments after Oliveira’s miss, Brooks took to Twitter with a scathing video, scolding his upcoming opponent for his lack of professionalism.
“I just saw that Alex Oliveira missed weight by 5 lbs,” Brooks said in the video, which he shot as he finished up his own weight cut in the sauna. “5.5 lbs. Come on man, that’s unprofessional, I take this serious, bro. I’m not in the business of not doing my job. My wife and my daughter can’t afford for me to miss weight, can’t afford for the commission to take 10%, 20% of my pay check. This is your profession. This is your job. Be a professional, make weight. This is my problem with guys now. Dudes don’t get that it’s entertainment, but it’s also a profession. This is serious business. I sacrificed a lot to get here. I’m still in the sauna, and he’s 5.5 lbs over. I’m in the sauna right now, and I’m like 0.8 over, but I wanna make sure that I’m on point. You know what I’m saying? That upsets me, that angers me.”
Needless to say, Brooks will now enter his bout with Oliveira with a real chip on his shoulder. Do you understand his frustration? Sound off, PENN nation!
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