Hector Urbina fought his way into the Fighter House on The Ultimate Fighter 19 and was hoping to fight his way back into the UFC during TUF 25. Unfortunately, he defeated himself before stepping into the cage.
Urbina showed up to the filming heavy, but couldn’t pass on the opportunity to get back into the UFC. He showed up weighing 196.5 pounds. The day before the weigh-in, he was still 17.4 pounds over the 171-pound welterweight limit. Reality began to sink in and Urbina told his coaches, “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
Urbina was coach Cody Garbrandt‘s fourth team pick. Coach TJ Dillashaw chose Urbina to face his top pick, James Krause, in the first set of match-ups partly because of how heavy he was when he arrived.
“Hector weighed 196 pounds during the tryouts. I knew picking him first, he wouldn’t have enough time to get his weight down, and it’s going to affect him,” said the former champion. Dillashaw was right.
“I’ve got to kind of be realistic about what’s going on here. I just have way too much weight to cut by tomorrow at noon, and I don’t see myself getting to 170,” said Urbina. “I pulled out of the fight. I just can’t make the weight. I didn’t time it right. I jumped on the opportunity.”
Urbina was sent home and replaced by local Las Vegas fighter Johnny Nunes. The scale eliminated the first fighter from TUF 25.
