Aiemann Zahabi was remarkably close to finishing his weight cut for UFC 315 when news broke that his scheduled bout with Jose Aldo would not be held at bantamweight as originally planned.
The change to a featherweight contest was announced during the official weigh-ins. Sources confirmed that the decision was made because Jose Aldo had been instructed by a UFC doctor to cease his weight cutting after being approximately nine pounds over the limit the night before. Despite appearing visibly drained at the scales, the fight was ultimately confirmed to proceed at the higher weight class.
Reacting to the unexpected change, Zahabi spoke with SportsNet and revealed he was less than one pound away from making the bantamweight limit of 136 pounds when he received the notification.
“I was cutting my weight and I just got into the blankets this morning, and I was 136.8 pounds,” Zahabi recounted, quoting his coach Firas Zahabi who received the messages. Firas was told: “`Jose can’t make weight, he’s 145. There’s no way he’s going to make the weight,` and the commission won’t allow, in Montreal, a five-pound weight difference. So… we have to do a featherweight fight. A bantamweight fight option is off the table completely.”
Following the news, Zahabi also shared a video demonstrating his weight was just under 137 pounds that Friday morning.
Given that the fight was at risk of being canceled entirely and had to be moved to featherweight, the usual penalties for missing weight were not applicable. Zahabi explained that this situation necessitated his team renegotiating the terms of his contract for the fight.
“So then we got to think, we got to renegotiate… [because] we could say no,” Zahabi said, noting that a five-pound difference essentially meant the fight was off under the original conditions.
He further shared his brother`s advice, referencing fellow fighter Xavier Alaoui: “`What would X do?`… `He would renegotiate and take the fight.`” Following this guidance, Zahabi`s team renegotiated with Sean Shelby, accepted the new offer, and the fight was officially back on.
