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A UFC fighter missed weight on Friday by a record amount.
Rafael Alves weighed 157.5 pounds for a planned featherweight bout against Patrick Sabatini. The limit for an untitled MMA featherweight fight is 146 pounds, so Alves weighed 11.5 pounds over the contracted mark. It was the biggest shortage in UFC history. Alves vs Sabatini was taken off Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card due to the unbalanced failure.
Alves’ weight was so heavy on Friday that he would have even lacked weight if the fight had been contracted a division above, at lightweight, or 155 pounds. The untitled light weight limit is 156 pounds.
In an Instagram story Friday after the weigh-ins, Alves apologized for the miss and said he fell ill during his weight loss.
The previous UFC record for missing weight was held by Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, who weighed 11 pounds over the limit for a fight against Vitor Belfort at UFC 142 on January 14, 2012. The fight was contracted at average weight with a non-title limit of 186 pounds. Johnson weighed 197 pounds the day before. The fight continued, with Belfort winning by submission in the first round. Johnson, who made his UFC debut at 170 pounds, went on to compete at 205 pounds and as a heavyweight (limit 265 pounds).
Three other fighters missed weight on Friday morning, but their fights will continue. Ketlen Vieira weighed 138 pounds, 2 pounds more than the untitled women’s bantamweight limit. She will lose 20% of her purse to her opponent Yana Kunitskaya. Vieira vs Kunitskaya is the co-main event scheduled for Saturday.
Jared Gordon was 4 pounds overweight, at 150 pounds for a featherweight fight. He will lose 30% of his purse to his opponent Danny Chavez. Drako Rodriguez was 4.5 pounds overweight for a bantamweight bout, weighing 140.5 pounds. He will lose 30% of his purse to the benefit of the opponent Aiemann Zahabi.
The two main event fighters, Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis, managed to put on some weight on Friday morning. Blaydes weighed 259 pounds and Lewis weighed 263 pounds for their heavyweight contender fight. ESPN has Blaydes ranked No. 3 and Lewis ranked No. 5 in the world in heavyweight. UFC Fight Night takes place on Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
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