Aaron Tau. Photo: Instagram
The road to the UFC appears over for Kiwi MMA fighter Aaron Tau.
Set to open the early prelims of UFC 325 with a shot at a full-time contract, Tau controversially failed to make weight, and his bout was subsequently canceled.
Tau came in 1.3kg over the flyweight limit, however, there was almost a 3kg discrepancy from his initial weigh-in behind a curtain.
Fighters can request to stand on the scales naked, and a curtain is used to give them privacy should they do so.
It was behind the curtain that Tau's weight read 55.5kg, before he was asked to weigh in again, at which time the scale change to 58.5kg. The flyweight limit for a non title fight is 57.2kg.
'Tauzemup' was set to fight in the flyweight final of the Road to UFC against Mongolian Namsrai Batbayar.
Commentators likened the incident to the infamous Daniel Cormier weigh-in 2017, in which Cormier admitted to leaning on the towel in order to shave some weight off.
Tau posted on Instagram, apologising for the missed weigh-in.
"I need to apologise to my opponent, the UFC, my team, and my fans. Though I pushed to the end, I have one job, to make weight and fight. I didn't do that. I'm sorry."
UFC 325 Main Card
Alexander Volkanovski (c) v Diego Lopes for the UFC featherweight championship
Dan Hooker vs. Benoit Saint Denis at Lightweight
Rafael Fiziev vs. Mauricio Ruffy at Lightweight
Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira at Heavyweight
Quillan Salkilld vs. Jamie Mullarkey at Lightweight
Prelims
Junior Tafa vs. Billy Elekana at Light Heavyweight
Cam Rowston vs. Cody Brundage at Middleweight
Jacob Malkoun vs. Torrez Finney at Middleweight
Jonathan Micallef vs. Oban Elliott at Welterweight
Early prelims
Kaan Ofli vs. Yizha at Featherweight
Kim Sang-wook vs. Dom Mar Fan at Lightweight
Keiichiro Nakamura vs. Sebastian Szalay at Featherweight
Lawrence Lui (NZ) vs. Sulangrangbo at Bantamweight
CANCELLED-Aaron Tau (NZ) vs. Namsrai Batbayar at Flyweight
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
