The UFC 296 weigh in finished minutes ago and we are here with all the latest news. Did any fighters miss weight ahead of the last event of the year? Here is everything that happened during the ceremony.
UFC 296 Weigh In: Key Moments from the Ceremony
The last card of the year already suffered enough before this weigh in happened. We lost two matches in the last 48 hours. First, Ian Machado Garry, who was supposed to face Vicente Luque, withdrew from the event due to pneumonia. This was a huge blow and it is even worse now after Randy Brown also withdrew due to an undisclosed illness.
Brandon Royval was the first one to appear on the scale. He was even waiting in the hall before the ceremony had started. No problems for him with the weight cut. He was followed by Ariane Lipski, Karol Rosa, and more than half of the 24 fighters who had to step on the scale.
Belal Muhammad also showed up for the ceremony. He is the backup fighter for the main event title match and cut weight to 169.5. In a recent interview, he said that he accepted to prepare as a backup to prove that he is always ready and establish himself as the undeniable challenger after this event.
It took a while for the remaining fighters to appear and Colby Covington was first 45 minutes in. He looked great for a guy who has not fought in close to two years. If you missed the UFC Press Conference from last night, check out our report on it. Covington made several controversial comments that ultimately led to a tough backlash on social media today. A lot of his fans have been tweeting and commenting that they now hope that Leon Edwards wins the match.
Last but not least, huge props to Bryce Mitchell, who weighed in lighter than his opponent Josh Emmett despite accepting this match on short notice with just 10 days to prepare.
UFC 296 Weigh In Results: Here's How All the Fighters Weighed In
Main Card:
• Welterweight Title: Leon Edwards (170) vs Colby Covington (169.5)
• Flyweight Title: Alexandre Pantoja (125) vs Brandon Royval (124.5)
• Welterweight: Shavkat Rakhmonov (171) vs Stephen Thompson (171)
• Lightweight: Tony Ferguson (155.5) vs Paddy Pimblett (155.5)
• Featherweight: Josh Emmett (146) vs Bryce Mitchell (145.5)
Prelims:
• Light-Heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield (204.5) vs Dustin Jacoby (204.5)
• Women's Bantamweight: Irene Aldana (136) vs Karol Rosa (135.5)
• Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt (136) vs Brian Kelleher (136)
• Women's Flyweight: Casey O'Neill (125) vs Ariane Lipski (126)
Early Prelims:
• Flyweight: Tagir Ulanbekov (126) vs Cody Durden (126)
• Featherweight: Andre Fili (145.5) vs Lucas Almeida (146)
• Heavyweight: Martin Buday (264.5) vs Shamil Gaziev (259.5)
Overall, nothing special happened during the UFC 296 weigh in ceremony. The important fact is that this fight card did not lose any more matches. This event already lost one massive bout and another one from the main card would have probably caused a decrease in PPV sales.
