Poirier explains weigh in outburst: He said ‘I’ll cut your neck’

Things got weird at the UFC 168 weigh ins when main card fighters Dustin Poirier and Diego Brandao hit the scales. First Brandao missed weight by a baffling seven pounds. Then an enraged Piorier got into Brandao’s face, and when UFC president Dana White stepped between the pair, Poirier pointed a finger at his opponent and snarled I’m going to f—ing break you, and you know it.

In an interview with Brazil’s Combate, Brandao attributed missing weight to a car accident he suffered in his native Brazil two weeks before the weigh in.

“This camp has been the hardest of my life,” said Brandao via Google translate. “Two weeks ago I suffered a car accident. My car was all broken. A drunk guy came towards me, I tried to get even, but he hit me so hard I flew across the street and hit another car coming in the other direction. Was very strong. I got hurt, but I recovered in two days, [better than] Wolverine. It was unbelievable.”

“My teacher asked me: ‘Brother, will you fight?.’ I said yes, because it is the fight of my life. I just need 15 minutes there on the day. I’m fine. God is with me. If I was not ready, [I would have] spoken to Dana White. I’m here to fight.”

Then at the post-fight press conference, Poirier offered an explanation for his outburst.

“On stage I was so mad because before we walked on stage to weigh in he told me he was going to stab me in the neck, and they had to separate us,” said Poirier, as transcribed by MMAJunkie. “The guy’s nuts, man. That’s why I was so upset.”

Poirier said his opponent made the threat as the fighters were lined up waiting the step onto the stage for their turn on the scales.

“He came up to me and said, ‘you stare at me like this again, I’ll cut your neck. Then what are you going to do?'”

In all likelihood, Brandao was using a metaphor like cut throat competition, and it came out poorly in English. In any case, Brandao failed to make weight on a second try, and was fined 25% of his purse, to be split evenly between Poirier and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

And then Poirier won via TKO in the first round.