UFC light heavyweight Anthony Johnson is exploring legal options to address the controversy of last week's UFC 210 weigh-in, according to his manager.

The controversy arose Friday when Johnson's opponent, defending UFC champion Daniel Cormier, initially missed weight by 1.2 pounds in Buffalo.

Cormier, 38, stepped away from the weigh-in area, returned approximately 2½ minutes later and made the 205-pound championship weight.

Many observers noticed Cormier's hands were on top of an outstretched towel during his second attempt, which could offset weight. Cormier has denied the towel had any effect.

Had he missed weight a second time, the fight would have likely gone on, but Cormier would have owed Johnson 20 percent of his purse.

According to Johnson's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, the camp intends to file a formal complaint on the matter "sometime this week."

"Anthony's rights were violated," Abdelaziz told ESPN.com. "We will go through the proper legal channels to fix this. Everybody saw what happened. How do you lose 1.2 pounds in two minutes?"

Abdelaziz said he immediately informed UFC president Dana White and Cormier's camp of the impending investigation, but did not mention it publicly so Johnson could focus on the fight. Johnson went on to lose to Cormier via second-round submission and subsequently announced his retirement from MMA.

"We don't want to take anything away from [Cormier]. He earned that win," Abdelaziz said. "But [Cormier] needs to give up 20 percent of his purse to Anthony. He had two extra hours to cut the weight and I think he probably would have made it -- but as it happened, I don't think he made weight."

When asked if a lawsuit against the New York State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event, is under consideration, Abdelaziz responded, "Whatever it takes."

"I understand New York is new to regulating mixed martial arts, but they've been doing boxing for a long time," he said. "Everybody is trying to sweep this under the rug, but it's not going to happen."

The weigh-in controversy took center stage in the 24 hours leading up to the fight. During a news conference, former champion Jon Jones -- who has a heated rivalry with Cormier -- called it "one of the dirtiest things I've seen in sports."

The state of New York does not disclose fight purses. Cormier's most recent disclosed payday was $500,000 for a nontitle fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 200 last July in Las Vegas.