RIO DE JANEIRO – MMAjunkie was on scene and reporting live from today’s early and official UFC 224 fighter weigh-ins, where all but one fighter on Saturday’s card hit their marks.
The main event women’s bantamweight title fight is set. Champion Amanda Nunes (15-4 MMA, 8-1 UFC) and heavy underdog challenger Raquel Pennington (9-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) each came in at 135 pounds for the headliner. Nunes is roughly a 10-1 favorite in the fight in her home country.
About 40 minutes into the two-hour weigh-ins window, Mackenzie Dern (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) stepped on the scale for her strawweight bout against Amanda Cooper (3-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) on the main card. Dern, who has struggled to make 115 pounds in the past, came in closer to flyweight than strawweight at 123 pounds, seven pounds over the non-title limit for the weight class.
Cooper weighed in a half-hour later and was 116 pounds. Stay tuned to MMAjunkie for updates on whether or not the fight is still on.
In the co-feature, Kelvin Gastelum (14-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) was 185 pounds for his middleweight fight against Ronaldo Souza (25-5 MMA, 8-2 UFC), who was 186. A pair of Brazilian legends and former champions meet to open the main card. Vitor Belfort (26-13 MMA, 15-10 UFC) was 186 for his middleweight fight against Lyoto Machida (23-8 MMA, 15-8 UFC), who was 184.
The early weigh-ins took place at the UFC host hotel in Rio de Janeiro and preceded the ceremonial weigh-ins for the fans, which take place at 4 p.m. ET at Jeunesse Arena in Rio. The same venue hosts Saturday’s event, which has a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and UFC Fight Pass.
The full UFC 224 weigh-in results included:
- Champ Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Raquel Pennington (135) – for women’s bantamweight title
- Kelvin Gastelum (185) vs. Ronaldo Souza (186)
- Amanda Cooper (116) vs. Mackenzie Dern (123)*
- Brian Kelleher (136) vs. John Lineker (136)
- Vitor Belfort (184) vs. Lyoto Machida (186)
- Cezar Ferreira (186) vs. Karl Roberson (185)
- Junior Albini (266) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (235)
- Nick Hein (155) vs. Davi Ramos (156)
- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171) vs. Sean Strickland (170)
- Sultan Aliev (171) vs. Warlley Alves (171)
- Jack Hermansson (186) vs. Thales Leites (186)
- Ramazan Emeev (171) vs. Alberto Mina (171)
- James Bochnovic (186) vs. Markus Perez (186)
Full story here:
UFC 224 official weigh-in results: Nunes, Pennington set; Mackenzie Dern seven pounds over