Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway are a day away from one of the most highly anticipated fights of the year at UFC 308, but the official weigh-ins already featured plenty of drama.
Though all 26 fighters competing Saturday in Abu Dhabi successfully made weight—including headliners Topuria and Holloway, both at 145—much of the buzz Friday morning concerned the status of Khamzat Chimaev. “Borz” is set to compete for just the second time since September 2022, having experienced several bout cancellations due to illness and other issues, so there was reason for fans to wonder if he would even make it to the scale.
Sure enough, Chimaev was the last fighter to weigh in, coming in well into the second hour of the official window. In fact, under the revised protocol the UFC has used at several events, fighters are encouraged to register a weight in the first hour and only if that attempt goes awry should they utilize the second hour. Regardless, an apologetic Chimaev stepped to the scale and successfully weighed in at 186 pounds for his fight against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (185.5).
Watch highlights of the official weigh-ins above.
The morning featured two other curiosities, with lightweights Mateusz Rebecki and Myktybek Orolbai now competing in a 160-pound catchweight bout, and Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo moved up to the 145-pound limit. The latter change created confusion as Hugo weighed in first at 145.5 pounds, followed by Basharat coming in at 137 pounds. Both fighters most recently competed at bantamweight.
A reason for the changes was not announced.
Check out UFC 308 official weigh-in results below.
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 2 p.m. ET)
Ilia Topuria (145) vs. Max Holloway (145)
Backup fighter: Diego Lopes (145)
Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (186)
Magomed Ankalaev (204.5) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (206)
Lerone Murphy (145.5) vs. Dan Ige (146)
Shara Magomedov (185) vs. Armen Petrosyan (186)
Prelims (ESPN+ at 10 a.m. ET)
Ibo Aslan (205) vs. Raffael Cerqueira (203)
Geoff Neal (171) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (171)
Mateusz Rebecki (160) vs. Myktybek Orolbai (159)
Abus Magomedov (185) vs. Brunno Ferreira (185.5)
Kennedy Nzechukwu (241) vs. Chris Barnett (264)
Farid Basharat (137) vs. Victor Hugo (145.5)
