Cormier denies cheating in controversial UFC weigh-in

UFC champion Daniel Cormier has denied that he used a towel to cheat the scales at a controversial weigh-in for UFC 210.

The headline event between Cormier and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is set following an morning weigh-in, but not without some incredible drama in New York.

With five minutes to go in the two-hour weigh-in window, Cormier, the light heavyweight champion, stepped on the scale, naked behind a towel, at 206.2 pounds.

Distraught, Cormier exited the scale.

At the last minute of the weigh-in, Johnson stepped on the scale at 203.8 pounds.

After Johnson left the scale, Cormier returned, stepped on the scale a second time, and hit 205 pounds on the nose.

Inexplicably, Cormier, within the scope of about two minutes, went from 206.2 pounds to 205 pounds.

The only visible difference between Cormier's first trip to the scale and the second was that he had his hands on the towel strung in front of him on the second attempt.

Whether that is legal or how much effect it had was unclear but former champion Jon Jones was quick to slam Cormier over the controversy.

"That was absolutely nuts. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing," Jones said.

"If you focus on his hands, you can see him looking down and like balancing out his weight just right to make 205 [pounds]. What a clever trick. Pretty dishonest of him.

"The crazy thing is that it was allowed to happen. I would imagine there would be some type of commission to go back and see this blatant foul play and address it.

"No one's addressed it. They just got away with doing one of the dirtiest things I've seen in sports."

However, Cormier dismissed suggestions he had done anything untoward, insisting the towel was simply to protect his modesty.

"I didn't want you to see my junk," Cormier told reporters.

"What does doing that do (holding onto the towel)? I don't understand. It's not something I've done before. No, I just wanted to make sure I didn't show my junk."

Cormier and Johnson first fought at UFC 187 in May of 2015. Johnson had been slated to challenge then-champion Jon Jones at that event, but Jones was involved in a felony hit-and-run accident, pulled from the fight, and stripped of his belt.

Cormier won the first fight via a third-round submission.

The UFC 210 co-main event features a pivotal middleweight bout between the No. 4 and No. 5 ranked fighters in the division, Chris Weidman and Gegard Mousasi, respectively.

While the top of the division is on hold, waiting for a fight between champion Michael Bisping and returning former welterweigh kingpin Georges St-Pierre to sort itself out, this is a fight that should narrow the field for the next championship contender.