UFC 325 is off to a not-so-great start. As the official weigh-ins began, and things were looking on track, flyweight Aaron Tau took his turn, and things quickly spiraled. The New Zealander was scheduled to face Namsrai Batbayar in the final of Road to UFC. 

But his first trip to the scale immediately raised eyebrows. Standing behind a concealed box, Tau initially weighed in at 122.5 pounds, comfortably under the 125-pound flyweight limit. That number looked suspicious, and officials asked him to step back on the scale without the box.

Daniel Cormier wouldn’t be proud of Aaron Tau

The second reading told a completely different story—129 pounds, a full seven pounds heavier and four pounds well over the divisional limit. At first glance, it seemed Tau may have attempted a trick similar to Daniel Cormier’s infamous towel-assisted weigh-in, possibly using the box to shift some weight off the scale. 

Unlike Cormier’s controversial moment, however, this attempt didn’t pass scrutiny. Aaron Tau’s debacle was so bizarre that even at the desk, Chris Weidman and RJ Clifford were left scratching their heads. And they were the first to bring up similarities with Cormier’s incident. 

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“Did he pull the DC?” and “DC screwed it up for everyone” were among the comments made. Shortly after the failed second weigh-in, the UFC announced during their morning weigh-in show that Tau’s Road to UFC tournament final bout had been scrapped.

While Tau will have to stay on the sidelines, others like Alexander Volkanovski, Diego Lopes, and essentially the entire rest of the card made weight successfully and are moving on to fight night. But the incident raises the question: Was Daniel Cormier caught? 

Cormier’s infamous towel trick

The retired UFC champion pulled the infamous ‘towel trick’ during the official weigh-ins for UFC 210 on April 7, 2017, in Buffalo, New York. He was defending his UFC light heavyweight title against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. When he first stepped onto the scale, he weighed in at 206.2 pounds, missing the mark by 1.2 pounds. 

He got off the scale, went off stage, and returned distraught, ready to quit. However, in his second attempt, Cormier made exactly 205 pounds, as handlers held a towel around him for modesty. Video footage from the weigh-in shows ‘DC’ placing his hands on the towel, which looked like he pushed down on them slightly. 

Despite the speculation, the fight went on, and Cormier won via second-round rear-naked choke. The former light heavyweight champion even denied attempting to cheat. However, years later, Daniel Cormier confessed that he used an old wrestling trick to make the weight that night on the scales.

It looks like pulling off the towel trick is not as easy as it seems. Sadly, however, UFC 325 will have less action as a result. What did you make of the incident?