Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev are prepared for their matchup of pound-for-pound greats.
Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski are all set for their clash of pound-for-pound greats.
At Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC 284, Volkanovski stepped to the scales first, weighing in at 154.5 pounds for his first lightweight appearance since his UFC debut in November 2016. The Australian star enters Saturday’s main event as the UFC featherweight champion and is currently No. 1 in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings.
Makhachev, No. 2 on that list, weighed in at 155 pounds for his first title defense. He stripped down and needed to be covered by a box to make the weight, but otherwise hit the mark without issue. Makhachev was one of six fighters to require coverage from the box.
For the interim UFC featherweight championship co-main event, competitors Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett both hit championship weight at 145 pounds.
Not everyone was so lucky as two preliminary fighters came in heavy, flyweight Kleydson Rodrigues and lightweight Zubaira Tukhugov. Rodrigues weighed in at 127 pounds on his initial attempt for his bout with Shannon Ross and did not weigh in a second time. Their bout will proceed as a catchweight, with Rodrigues forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty.
Tukhugov weighed in at 157.5 pounds, 1.5 pounds over the lightweight limit. Per the UFC, his bout with Elves Brenner will proceed at a catchweight bout with Tukhugov forfeiting a 30 percent of his purse as penalty.
This is the second time in Tukhugov’s UFC career that weight cut issues have affected one of his bouts, with the prior gaffe occurring at featherweight.
See the UFC 284 official weigh-in results below.
Main card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)
Islam Makhachev (155) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (154.5)
Yair Rodriguez (145) vs. Josh Emmett (145)
Jack Della Maddalena (171) vs. Randy Brown (171)
Justin Tafa (266) vs. Parker Porter (264)
Jimmy Crute (204.5) vs. Alonzo Menifield (205)
Prelims (ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)
Tyson Pedro (206) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (206)
Joshua Culibao (146) vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan (146)
Shannon Ross (125.5) vs. Kleydson Rodrigues (127)*
Jamie Mullarkey (155) vs. Francisco Prado (154.5)
Early Prelims (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET)
Jack Jenkins (145.5) vs. Don Shainis (146)
Loma Lookboonmee (115.5) vs. Elise Reed (115.5)
Shane Young (145.5) vs. Blake Bilder (146)
Zubaira Tukhugov (157.5)** vs. Elves Brenner (155.5)
*Rodrigues fined 20 percent of his purse for missing weight
**Tukhogov fined 30 percent of his purse for missing weight
