The official weigh-in for UFC 245 has just finished. 26 fighters stepped on the scale, 25 fighters made weight!
The one who did not make weight was Jessica “Evil” Eye who came in at a very unprofessional 131 pounds for her flyweight bout versus Viviane Araujo. That’s a full 5 pounds over the flyweight limit of 126 pounds! For her transgression on the scale, Eye will forfeit 30% of her purse and the fight will take place.
This isn’t the 1st time she’s had trouble on the scale, and that’s a damn shame because she’s talented and could compete for the title at some point in the near future. However, with a history of missing weight, she needs to go on a run of 2 or 3 fights where she makes her contracted weight on the scale before she should be in any title conversation.
Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo hit the scale at 136 pounds for his bantamweight debut against Marlon Moraes.
Many people were concerned for Aldo because he has had trouble making featherweight, (but has never missed) and many believed that he would move up to lightweight and continue his career. Pictures surfaced of him last week where he looked somewhat frail. We should all take into consideration we are used to seeing him at a higher weight class and maybe it’s unfair to judge what he looks like today against what he looked like as a featherweight.
All 6 fighters in the 3 title fights on Saturday night made weight with no issues whatsoever. All 3 title fights will move forward.
Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo will both be on this card, and both competing at bantamweight. If both of these are successful either one could theoretically jump whatever line there is for a shot at Henry Cejudo for the bantamweight championship. The UFC could actually have them fight each other for that opportunity, giving us a rematch from when they were both featherweights and Aldo kicked his way to victory.
There is one fight on the card that hasn’t had a lot of publicity that I’m very interested in and that is Matt Brown versus Ben Saunders at welterweight. There’s a feeling of nostalgia with this one at least for me. These 2 guys have entertained so many of us over the years and I love this matchup for both of them at this stage of each of their careers respectively.
While the fight mentioned above gives us a feeling of yesteryear, Chase Hooper the 20-year-old phenom who was catapulted to worldwide recognition after his appearance on The Contender Series in 2018 will make his long-awaited Octagon debut against a very tough and talented Daniel Teymur. Some think that it may be too soon for Hooper to be joining the roster. Speaking from personal experience of seeing him up close and in action at island fights earlier this year, I believe all those that don’t think he’s ready are wrong.
There are tons of great storylines on this the last pay per view card of the year for the UFC. I would say that this card is one that any true mixed martial arts fan should not miss!
The full weigh-in results are listed below along with times and where to watch each portion of UFC 245 which takes place this Saturday night live from Las Vegas Nevada!
MAIN CARD (ESPN Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Kamaru Usman (170) vs. Colby Covington (170) – for the welterweight title
Champ Max Holloway (145) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) – for the featherweight title
Champ Amanda Nunes (134.5) vs. Germaine de Randamie (134.5) – for women’s bantamweight title
Jose Aldo (136) vs. Marlon Moraes (135.5)
Urijah Faber (135.5) vs. Petr Yan (135.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET)
Geoff Neal (170) vs. Mike Perry (170.5)
Irene Aldana (135.5) vs. Ketlen Vieira (136)
Omari Akhmedov (185.5) vs. Ian Heinisch (185.5)
Matt Brown (171) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
Chase Hooper (144.5) vs. Daniel Teymur (145.5)
Kai Kara-France (125.5) vs. Brandon Moreno (125.5)
Jessica Eye (131) vs. Viviane Araujo (126)
Oskar Piechota (186) vs. Punahele Soriano (185.5)
Christopher James has been in the MMA industry for 15 years, Working as a ring announcer for promotions like the XFC, Island Fights, Combat Night and Fight Nights Global during his career. Chris’ love for the sport and the athletes that partake in it led him to writing and doing face to face interviews with the athletes he admired and respected. Chris isn’t conventional by any stretch of the imagination, he has his own style, and takes pride in not being a “cookie-cutter” member of the media. Unique and sometimes controversial takes are what he brings to the table, forcing folks to think a little differently about the world of MMA. He also has a love for music as he has been a dj for 25 years and his love for music gets brought to the MMA world when he gets his guests to sing on his weekly show Cage Side with Christopher James which can be seen Wednesday nights on FACEBOOK LIVE, and soon via podcast.