ONE Championship: Liam Harrison upset with officials after "mistake" sees him miss weight for ONE 167
Liam Harrison expressed frustration and anger with ONE Championship officials after a dramatic weight miss on Thursday evening, which he put down to an error on their part.
The British veteran was one of the first few fighters billed for Saturday's ONE 167 card to step up to the scales at the host Peninsula Hotel and smiled as he passed his hydration test with no problems.
It mirrored his positive mood all week in Thailand, where he is returning from a near two-year injury layoff that threatened his career.
But the 38-year-old Harrison's face then turned to bemusement, and then anger, after his weight was read out as 146 pounds.
He remonstrated with senior director of competition Ric Auty while standing on the scales, and he could be heard arguing at the back of the room for several minutes before leaving with his team.
'The Hitman' later told Sportskeeda he had weighed in on the same scales at 143 pounds during an unofficial check earlier in the afternoon, with the same ONE officials present.
He proceeded to drink 500ml of water, thinking he would make weight easily, only to miss by a pound.
A frustrated Harrison told Sportskeeda in the hallway outside that he would not try to make weight again despite it still being early in the official three-hour testing window, as he clutched a half empty bottle of water with electrolytes to refuel his body.
"I'm too old to put my body through that," he said, insisting his miss was neither his fault nor his nutritionist Peter Miller's.
Harrison later wrote in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter:
"Literally physically impossible to put 3lbs on with that amount of water ... especially when the OFFICAL WEIGHT CHECK OFFICIAL said you're 2lbs under go have a drink. The scales are either f***** or he made a mistake and me and my nutrionist are not being held accountable.
"I’m 38 years old why should I put my body through weeks and weeks of dieting and then do 2 weight cuts in 1 day when it’s them who have f***** up not me."
It was of little consolation to Harrison that his scheduled opponent, Katsuki Kitano of Japan, also missed weight.
Kitano failed three attempts at passing hydration before the clock struck zero. The 27-year-old later returned to pass at the fourth attempt after chugging some water, which saw him balloon to 149 pounds.
It was over to Harrison to then accept the fight, but he told Sportskeeda he was in two minds because of the "outrageous" situation.
Should they fight, their purses would stay the same, but neither man would be able to win a US$50,000 performance bonus at Impact Arena on Saturday morning.
Harrison, who was set to return from nearly two years out with a knee injury, is also booked to fight legendary Thai Seksan Or Kwanmuang at ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado on September 6, in what could be the final fight of his career.