UFC 281 weigh-in results and video: Late drama on the scales! Two fighters miss weight

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

UPDATE: Alex Pereira has made weight with moments to spare.

The UFC will be center stage this weekend at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden. Under those bright lights, the Octagon will play host to two title fights — with Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira and Carla Esparza vs. Zhang Weili.

In addition to those very important contests, there’s some fun stuff scheduled around the rest of the card. Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler should serve up plenty of violence on the pay-per-view. The prelims have Erin Blanchfield, who could make some noise at flyweight, taking on the always fun Molly McCann. And the early prelims have the undefeated Ottman ‘don’t ask me what’s in my mum’s purse’ Azaitar fighting Matt Frevola.

But of course, before any of these fights can happen, all the competitors must step upon the dreaded scale. With two title fights, four fighters will need to be extra careful (and send pleasing prayers to the MMA gods) to prevent the card from any last minute shuffles.

You can watch to see what happens on those scales live, right here! Check the stream below—courtesy of our friends at MMA Fighting. It goes live at 9 a.m. ET.

UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira Official Weigh-Ins LIVE Stream | MMA Fighting

Main card (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV):

UFC middleweight championship: Israel Adesanya (185) vs. Alex Pereira (184.6)

UFC strawweight championship: Carla Esparza (114.6) vs. Zhang Weili (114.8)

Lightweight: Dustin Poirier (156) vs. Michael Chandler (155.8)

Bantamweight: Frankie Edgar (135.6) vs. Chris Gutierrez (136)

Lightweight: Dan Hooker (155.8) vs. Claudio Puelles (155.2)

Prelims (8 p.m. ET on ESPNN/ESPN+)

Lightweight: Brad Riddell (155.6) vs. Renato Moicano (155.8)

Light heavyweight: Dominick Reyes (205.4) vs. Ryan Spann (206.6)*

Flyweight: Erin Blanchfield (125) vs. Molly McCann (125.4)

Middleweight: Andre Petrovski vs. Wellington Turman (185.2)

Early prelims (6 p.m. ET on ESPN+)

Lightweight: Matt Frevola (154.8) vs. Ottman Azaitar (155.6)

Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz (115.6) vs. Silvana Gomez Juarez (115.6)

Featherweight: Michael Trizano (147.6)** vs. Seung Woo Choi (145.6)

Bantamweight: Julio Arce (135.8) vs. Montel Jackson (135.8)

Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg (205.2) vs. Nicolae Negumereanu (206)

*Ryan Spann misses weight by .6 lbs.

**Mike Trizano misses weight by by 1.6 lbs.

Official UFC 281 Fight Poster

LIVE STREAM UFC 281 PPV ON ESPN+ HERE!

BLOCKBUSTER TWO TITLE-FIGHT SHOWDOWN! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to MSG (Madison Square Garden) in NYC, NY, on Sat. NOV. 12, 2022, with a must-see thriller that will see perennial fan favorite, No. 1 ranked Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya (23-1), battle No. 3 division ranked contender, Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira (6-1), for the UFC Middleweight Championship. Meanwhile, in UFC 281’s pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, we get the current and two-time UFC Strawweight Champion, Carla ‘The Cookie Monster’ Esparza (19-6), defending her title opposite Zhang Weili (22-3). These bouts will be preceded by an exciting Lightweight barnburner between Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier and ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler, in a must-see barnburner.

Don’t miss a single second of EPIC face-punching action!

STREAM UFC 281 NOW

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Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Tim is also BE's lead (only) sumo reporter. He blogs about that sport here and on his own substack, Sumo Stomp!

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