Drama reigned at the official early morning weigh-ins for UFC 279 as headliner Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by a colossal seven and a half pounds for his welterweight main event bout with Nate Diaz.
For his part, Diaz came in and made weight without any fuss, tipping the scale at the non-title limit of 171 pounds. But, when a smiling Chimaev emerged to weigh in, rumors were already rife that he was going to miss weight by a significant amount.
Those rumors were made reality as Chimaev weighed in at 178.5 pounds. More details on what will happen next as a result of Chimaev’s weight miss will follow in due course.
The rest of the main card all hit their contracted weights, with one notable change. It was announced that the main card bout between Irena Aldana and Macy Chiasson, originally scheduled to be at bantamweight, would instead be contested at a catchweight of 140 pounds. Both women subsequently made weight at their temporary weight class, making their fight official.
There were two more weight misses on the card. Canada’s Hakeem Dawodu came in three and a half pounds over for his featherweight bout with Julian Erosa after tipping the scale at 149.5 pounds. And heavyweight crowd-pleaser Chris Barnett, the last man to the scale, came in 1.5 pounds over the non-title heavyweight limit, weighing in at 267.5 pounds.
None of the fighters who missed weight re-weighed, and their bouts will be renegotiated, with the offending fighters each set to be fined a percentage of their fight purse.
UFC 279: Official Weigh-In Results
MAIN CARD
- Khamzat Chimaev (178.5*) vs. Nate Diaz (171)
- Tony Ferguson (171) vs. Li Jingliang (170.5)
- Kevin Holland (179.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (179)
- Irene Aldana (137.5) vs. Macy Chiasson (139.5)
- Ion Cutelaba (205.5) vs. Johnny Walker (205)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Hakeem Dawodu (149.5*) vs. Julian Erosa (146)
- Jailton Almeida (216.5) vs. Anton Turkalj (214)
- Jamie Pickett (185.5) vs. Denis Tiuliulin (186)
- Chris Barnett (267.5*) vs. Jake Collier (265)
EARLY PRELIMS
- Norma Dumont (146) vs. Danyelle Wolf (146)
- Alatengheili (135) vs. Chad Anheliger (135.5)
- Melissa Martinez (113.5) vs. Elise Reed (115.5)
- Yohan Lainesse (171) vs. Darian Weeks (170.5)
* Fighter missed weight
