NYSAC boss clarifies what transpired at wild weigh-ins

The New York State Athletic Commission was once so ineptly run that boxer Magomed Abdusalamov took himself to the hospital in a taxi after the ring doctors had left. He remains paralyzed and the state paid him $22 million in a settlement. The commission was reorganized, and Kim Sumbler was put in charge. She has done a tremendous job.

At UFC 223, Sumbler helped usher the sport through the weirdest weekend in its history. During the early, official weigh-ins, the already reshuffled main event collapsed, and a series of alternatives were considered. Sumbler clarified what actually happened, and it’s a little different than what has been reported so far.

I was called into the room about half an hour before the weigh-ins were over, our last weigh-in time was 11:00, so it was about 10:30 in the morning, said Sumbler to Danny Segura for MMA Fighting. We were called into a room with my chief medical officer and Jeff Davidson of the UFC medical team and discussed Max’s condition. It was decided at that time jointly that we weren’t going to allow Max to weigh in.

Anthony Pettis was presented to me as a potential opponent for Khabib, so we looked at him, studied him. Anthony hadn’t weighed in yet, so we went and talked to his team, Anthony was a little over. He was 0.2 [pounds] over and him and his team discussed if they were going to lose the additional 0.2 pounds so that they could fight for the title or not. I’m not sure if it was Anthony’s management or his coach I had a conversation with there and he said that he did not want Anthony to lose the additional 0.2 pounds.

I asked Anthony directly, I had him look me in the face because he was writing some paperwork and I said, ‘Anthony, I want you to turn and look at me,’ and he did. And it was in front of the UFC and his team, and I said, ‘Anthony, do you want to lose the extra 0.2 and he said, ‘no, I don’t,’ and I said, ‘okay,’ and he took this great big jug of water and he drank it and I said, ‘guys, go pick up the scale’. And that was the end of it. I said I would approve a three-round fight, ‘I don’t think you’re ready for a five, I’ll approve you for a three-round fight against Khabib’. He went to go and do negotiations [with the UFC] and that was the last I heard until they presented me to Al.

The negotiations with the UFC reportedly broke down over purse; there was a rumor that Pettis wanted $1 million. Then it was reported that Paul Felder was proposed by the UFC, but the NYSAC turned it down because he didn’t appear in the official top 15 rankings. That narrative turns out to be false.

Paul Felder never came into play, explained Sumbler. He was never presented to me as an opponent, ever. His name was talked around the commission room with other fighters, other managers and other people, but the UFC never presented me Paul Felder as a potential opponent for Khabib.

UFC president Dana White, who is never shy about expressing his emotions when he feels wronged, was effusive in his praise for Sumbler and her staff.

The commission was awesome,” he said. “The commission was outstanding and I want to thank them for hanging with us this week too. Yeah, I mean, listen, they have their rules and regs and it it what it is.”