DETROIT – Sijara Eubanks’ inability to step on the scale and weigh in for Friday’s inaugural UFC women’s flyweight title fight at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale didn’t come as much of a surprise to “TUF 26” head coaches Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje.

Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who served as Eubanks’ coach during her run on the reality series, said he heard rumors the fighter was struggling to hit the 125-pound mark earlier today. He hoped she would get over the hurdle after she successfully (but narrowly) made weight three times during the tournament. However, Eubanks was hospitalized and pulled from the card.

It was a stunning turn of events, and as a result, replacement Roxanne Modafferi (21-13 MMA, 0-1 UFC) now meets finalist Nicco Montano (3-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in the 125-pound title headliner, which airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass from Park Theatre in Las Vegas.

“Behind the scenes I kind of heard some fluttering, but (I’m) disappointed,” Alvarez told MMAjunkie. “Seriously disappointing. We never know the reasoning behind these kind of things. Personally I don’t think there’s an excuse for it. But I’m going to have to call to Vegas and see what’s going on.”

Gaethje (18-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who fights Alvarez on Saturday’s UFC 218 pay-per-view main card, which takes place at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, was not exactly stunned by the situation, either. He was well aware of Eubanks’ weight-cutting struggles throughout “TUF,” so when news broke that she was out of the title fight, Gaethje said he wasn’t surprised.

“No (it doesn’t surprise me),” Gaethje said. “I had the very first pick on the very first fight, and Sarj weighed 155 pounds. My coaches wanted me to pick her, but if I did pick her she would not have made weight and she would not have even been in the discussion right now. I should have done it because she would have learned a hard lesson then instead of now on the biggest stage. She showed up 20 pounds over probably, or 20 to 25. Stupid.”

Gaethje and Alvarez have never missed weight in a combined 51 fights. They both believe that it’s unprofessional to miss under any circumstance, but for a UFC title fight, Eubanks’ error is particularly egregious, they said.

“The first 27, 28 pounds are the easy ones,” Alvarez said. “It’s the last three-quarters of a pound, (one) pound left that kind of breaks your spirit. It’s sad because Sarj, she made weight three times in a series of like three weeks, which is an incredible feat. This is a world title, man. This is huge. That’s a huge disappointment.”

For more on The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale and UFC 218, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.