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