Anthony Johnson has filed an appeal with the New York State Athletic Commission regarding Daniel Cormier’s weigh in.
In a letter from Johnson’s attorneys, Craig Zimmerman and David Mossberg, claim that Cormier did not know of his allowance to weigh-in again within two hours. More to the point, they took issue with the weigh-in controversy on Cormier’s second attempt where he held the towels in front of him. Cormier claims he did not know that he held the towels in a post-fight interview.
A portion of the letter (via MMA Junkie) states:
“Unfortunately, in the case, Anthony Johnson, the general public, and the sport of mixed martial arts were deprived of a fair and honest weigh-in and a true championship fight when Daniel Cormier was allowed to grab the towels held in front of him for privacy purposes only while his official weight was being determined.”
The letter goes on to demand Cormier to answer “under oath” to the commission and explain his actions regarding grabbing the towels. It also requests that if Cormier is subject to discipline, he should be ordered to pay 20% of his fight purse to Johnson and stripped of the light heavyweight title.
Payout Perspective:
It is an interesting appeal due to the fact that Johnson announced his retirement in the Octagon. Thus, the purpose of the appeal seems to be just to require Cormier to surrender 20% of his fight purse to Johnson. It does seem like there should be some sort of investigation into the handling of the situation. Coupled with the instant replay issue in the Chris Weidman-Gegard Mousasi fight, it seems like the New York State Athletic Commission has some issues it needs to review. As for the towel situation, if it is not addressed, we will likely see similar actions in future weigh-ins where a fighter is near the weight limit.
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