William Knight apologizes for 12-pound weight miss at UFC 271: ‘It definitely won’t happen again’

William Knight is apologizing over his weight miss for UFC 271 on Saturday night. Knight was expected to weigh in at the 206-pound mark…

By: Kristen King | 1 year ago
William Knight apologizes for 12-pound weight miss at UFC 271: ‘It definitely won’t happen again’
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

William Knight is apologizing over his weight miss for UFC 271 on Saturday night.

Knight was expected to weigh in at the 206-pound mark for his light heavyweight fight against Maxim Grishin. However, the ‘Knightmare’ stepped on the scales during the official weigh-ins on Friday and weighed 218 pounds, which is 12 pounds over the limit.

A weight miss like that has often led to fight cancellations, but Knight vs. Grishin was immediately saved after it was moved to heavyweight. The 33-year-old was also penalized and forfeited 40 percent of his fight purse. With the fight still on, Knight took to Instagram to explain why he missed weight and vowed to never let it happen again.

“I tried my best on short notice definitely not the kinda fighter I am and it definitely won’t happen again….,” wrote Knight. “Crazy I turn into the bad guy trying to save a fight on short notice….. I’m happy the real snakes have shed their skin today I’ll remember this moving forward for sure…. God has blessed me with this as a lesson and I’ll definitely make sure I do better next time…. fight is still on tomorrow at 8pm it’s now a heavyweight fight.”

It should be noted that Knight accepted the fight against Grishin about two weeks ago. ‘Maximus’ was originally scheduled to share the Octagon with Ed Herman, but ‘Short Fuse’ was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons.

Since joining the promotion following a successful appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series, Knight has gone 3-1 in his four UFC outings.

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About the author
Kristen King
Kristen King

Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016, getting her start with outlets such as FanSided, MyMMANews and MMA-Prospects. She joined the BE team in 2020, covering a mix of news, events and injuries. In her time with BE, Kristen has created ‘Fright of the Night,’ a series that highlights some of the worst injuries in the sport.

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