Charles Oliveira, Islam Makhachev Make Weight For UFC 280 Lightweight Title Bout
Charles Oliveira is officially getting his second chance.
Oliveira made weight early Friday morning for his UFC 280 headliner against Islam Makhachev. Oliveira came in at 154.5 pounds while Makhachev tipped the scales at the same weight. Both fighters are aiming to capture the vacant UFC lightweight title on Saturday.
Oliveira previously held the lightweight belt, was stripped of it after missing weight by 0.5 pounds at UFC 274 against Justin Gaethje. Oliveira submitted Gaethje, but was unable to reclaim it then.
Several other fighters complained about discrepancies between the hotel scale and the official scale.
The promotion even had UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski there as a backup for the main event. He made weight at 155 pounds.
The co-main event for the card is also official.
Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and challenger TJ Dillashaw both successfully weighed in at 135 pounds. Sterling will be defending his title for the second time.
All but one of 24 fighters made weight.
Flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian came in at 127.5 pounds, which was 1.5 pounds over the limit. Her bout with Manon Fiorot, which is a non-title bout, will proceed at a catchweight, but Chookagian will forfeit 20% of her purse as a penalty.
Here’s the official weights:
Main card
- Charles Oliveira (154.5) vs. Islam Makhachev (154.5)
- Aljamain Sterling (135) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (135)
- Petr Yan (136) vs. Sean O’Malley (135.5)
- Beneil Dariush (156) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156)
- Katlyn Chookagian (127.5)* vs. Manon Fiorot (125.5)
Preliminary Card
- Belal Muhammad (170) vs. Sean Brady (171)
- Makhmud Muradov (185.5) vs. Caio Borralho (186)
- Volkan Oezdemir (206) vs. Nikita Krylov (206)
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov (170.5) vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (171)
- Armen Petrosyan (186) vs. AJ Dobson (185)
- Malcolm Gordon (126) vs. Muhammad Mokaev (126)
- Karol Rosa (135) vs. Lina Lansberg (135)
- Alexander Volkanovski (155) — weighed in as backup for main event