Weidman: Romero Looked Like a Different Man at UFC 205

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Chris Weidman says Yoel Romero appeared noticeably bigger and more intimidating once the cage door closed at UFC 205 than he did at the weigh-ins, a transformation that rattled his confidence before Romero knocked him out in the third round.

Weidman shared the memory on an episode of Deep Waters alongside Din Thomas, Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier, during a conversation about how extreme weight cuts can change a fighter's appearance from the day before a fight to fight night itself. Thomas opened the discussion by arguing that a hard cut can leave the bigger man depleted, suggesting opponents should focus on making a cutting fighter work rather than fearing his size. Weidman pushed back using his own experience against Romero as the counterpoint.

"I mean, Yoel Romero, bro, when I saw him in the octagon the next day, this is the first time in my UFC career where I'm looking across my cage, usually when I'm in there, I look at the dude, I'm like there's no way I'm losing to this dude, when Yoel was in there standing across from me, I'm like, 'F*ck,'" Weidman said. "It was hard to be that confident."

Why Weidman brought up Romero specifically

Weidman's UFC 205 fight with Yoel Romero stands out to him as the clearest example of an opponent looking like a completely different athlete once fight night arrived. Weidman said he recognized the shift in himself too, describing how he sensed Romero sizing him up early and thinking the Cuban wrestler believed he had the edge, only for that read to flip once Weidman saw him under the lights. Romero went on to finish Weidman in the third round of that fight.

Poirier had the same experience with Makhachev

Dustin Poirier recalled a nearly identical moment from his lightweight title fight with Islam Makhachev at UFC 302, saying Makhachev looked drastically bigger and healthier by the time he stepped into the cage than he did struggling through his weigh-in the day before. "They got in the cage, the lights were on him, he had veins in his shoulders and stuff, I said, 'Who the f*ck is this guy? Where'd he come from?'" Poirier said. Poirier lost that fight by submission in the fifth round. Makhachev has since moved up and is now the UFC's welterweight champion, no longer cutting down to 155 pounds.

What this means for bettors watching weigh-ins

For bettors, the Weidman and Poirier accounts are a reminder that a weigh-in photo rarely tells the full story of how a fighter will look or move the next night. Bookmakers and the public often react to how drained or small a fighter appears at the scale, but both Weidman and Poirier describe opponents who rehydrated into versions of themselves that looked nothing like the men they saw 24 hours earlier. That gap between weigh-in appearance and fight-night reality is worth factoring in before reading too much into same-day visuals, especially for fighters with known histories of severe cuts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Chris Weidman say about Yoel Romero at UFC 205?

Chris Weidman said Yoel Romero looked significantly bigger and more intimidating once they were in the cage at UFC 205 than he did at the weigh-in, which shook his confidence before Romero knocked him out in the third round.

What did Dustin Poirier say about Islam Makhachev's appearance?

Dustin Poirier said Islam Makhachev looked drastically different and more muscular in the cage at UFC 302 than he did struggling through weigh-ins the day before their lightweight title fight, which Makhachev won by submission in the fifth round.