Al Iaquinta gets UFC title shot thanks to underwear weight

Despite all the shenanigans over the past 48 hours, Dana White says the main event for UFC 223 will be a title fight. And the UFC has a pair of underwear to thank for that.

Al Iaquinta initially weighed in at 155.2 pounds on Friday ahead of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at the Barclays Center on Saturday. Because he failed to make the 155-pound weight limit, he originally was not going to be eligible to win the lightweight title belt if he won. However, White later decided that Iaquinta made weight.

White said in an interview on FS1 that Iaquinta got weighed while wearing his underwear, which was later weighed and came in at 0.2 pounds. Because of that difference, White decided that Iaquinta will be fighting for the lightweight title, even if the commission does not deem him eligible to win the belt.

Dana White just announced that Al Iaquinta, if he wins, will be considered UFC champion. White said that NYSAC may not recognize him as champ because of the .2 but he will. That is a new one.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 6, 2018

The main event has seen all sorts of twists and turns. Max Holloway was supposed to fight Khabib, but the commission determined his weight cut would be unsafe. Then it looked like Anthony Pettis would get the fight, but that didn’t happen. Next up was Paul Felder, but he was not approved, so Iaquinta got the fight. And now thanks to his underwear weight, he’ll be fighting for a UFC title.