Will Brooks Thinks Alex Oliveira Intentionally Missed Weight For An Advantage

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Will Brooks revealed that he thinks Alex Oliveira intentionally missed weight by 5 & 1/2 pounds before UFC Fight Night 96 to gain an advantage. Oliveira ended up winning after the fight was stopped, due to Brooks fracturing his rib in the first round. Here are highlights:

On Oliveira missing weight: “I think those guys are scumbags. I think they’re unprofessional and I think they’re cheaters. In my opinion, at the end of the day, I think they purposely missed weight. I think they did that on purpose. I think they were looking for an advantage. For you to miss weight by five, almost six pounds — that’s something different. In my opinion, you didn’t even try. You’re looking for an advantage. And then during the weigh-ins and you’re doing all this stuff, you guys aren’t acting professional like you really wanted to make the weight. They were in the back dancing and laughing and doing all this other stuff, acting like everything was cool, which I guess everything was cool. They accomplished their goal and got their advantage.”

On why he accepted the fight anyway: “I didn’t know if I was going to get my win bonus. In my mind, I didn’t know if I was going to walk out with just my show money, and I can’t do that. If I have an opportunity to make both and not have to fight, I’ll do that. I wasn’t educated on the process. I was under the assumption that if I didn’t take the fight — and this was just me being uneducated on it — you only get your show money. I’ve got to get out there and get both of my paychecks, that’s how I approached it.”

On noticing a difference in the fight: “Honestly, I felt he was a little bigger and stronger but as the fight went on, I was able to take him down and pick him up and dump him. I felt I had plenty of control in the fight, honestly. I’m not trying to make excuses, it is what it is, but if I didn’t have that injury … I had fought through a rib injury in a previous fight but this time it was different. It stretched all the way to my back and spine. It felt like someone dropped a truck on my chest. I had a difficult time breathing.”