The UFC 279 weigh-ins have now taken place ahead of tomorrow night’s event in Las Vegas and you can see what all the fighters tipped the scales at below.
After a chaotic pre-fight press conference yesterday there was more high drama today at the UFC 279 weigh-ins due to main event star Khamzat chimaev failing to make weight for his fight with Nate Diaz.
Rumors had began swirling as soon as the weigh-ins began that Chimaev may have been struggling to reach the 171lb limit for the fight, and as time went on the suggestion was that he wasn’t just going to miss, but miss big – in the region of 8-10lbs.
At the same time speculation began that the UFC was busy working on contingency plans, including the possibility of a late switch-up of opponents between the main and co-main event that would see Chimaev fight Kevin Holland and Nate Diaz go up against Tony Ferguson, with Li Jingliang then being matched up with Daniel Rodriguez.
In all fairness those are fun fights, and there’s a solid argument to be made that they should have been the match-ups to begin with. On top of that there’s now extra heat behind a Chimaev vs. Holland fight after they reportedly were involved in an altercation backstage at yesterday’s UFC 279 press conference, during which Chimaev was alleged to have teep-kicked Holland.
However, it’s a big ask for fighters to suddenly switch high-profile opponents on a days notice, with Holland in particular seemingly at a particular disadvantage given his prior issues with wrestlers at middleweight, and now being lined up with one of the most dominant wrestlers in the sport at 180lbs with no time to prepare after having trained to face a striker.
On the other hand, Diaz may well like the sound of avoiding what was widely considered to be a terrible match-up for him against Chimaev, in favor of facing a fellow veteran and former lightweight in Ferguson who is also on a losing streak.
That being said, after successfully making weight, there was talk that Diaz could now throw a massive spanner in the works by simply refusing to fight Chimaev due to his weight miss (which would be perfectly understandable given that he was already the smaller fighter in this fight), but then also not accepting an alternative opponent either.
Update 1: The weigh-ins have now concluded. On the live show Daniel Cormier said that he has heard that a medical issue had an effect on Chimaev’s ability to make weight. Whether that will also have an impact on his ability to fight remains to be seen.
Update 2: All the previously rumored bout changes including Diaz vs. Ferguson and Chimaev vs. Holland have now been confirmed. Read the full story HERE.
Main Card
Khamzat Chimaev (178.5) vs. Nate Diaz (171) – Chimaev missed weight by a whopping 7.5lbs
Tony Ferguson (171) vs. Li Jingliang (170.5)
Kevin Holland (179.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (179) [180-pound catchweight]
Irene Aldana (137.5) vs. Macy Chiasson (139.5)[140-pound catchweight]
Ion Cutelaba (205.5) vs. Johnny Walker (205)
Prelims
Hakeem Dawodu (149.5) vs. Julian Erosa (146) – Dawodu missed weight by 3.5lbs
Jailton Almeida (216.5) vs. Anton Turkalj (214) [220-pound catchweight]
Jamie Pickett (185.5) vs. Denis Tiuliulin (186)
Chris Barnett (267.5) vs. Jake Collier (265) – Barnett misses weight by 1.5lbs
Norma Dumont (146) vs. Danyelle Wolf (146)
Heili Alateng (135) vs. Chad Anheliger (135.5)
Melissa Martinez (113.5) vs. Elise Reed (115.5)
Yohan Lainesse (171) vs. Darian Weeks (170.5)
