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For the most part, this week’s UFC Vegas 71 event stayed relatively intact. At least as long as fans don’t think too hard about Song Yadong vs. Ricky Simon being pulled to bolster next week’s Fight Night. Everyone on the main card made weight, the main event between Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes is still on, and that’s the really important thing.
But, it wouldn’t be MMA and it wouldn’t be fight week, without at least one last minute cancellation. This time around it’s an undercard bout between Priscila Cachoeira and Karine Silva. Cachoeira weighed in at 140-pounds, four over the flyweight limit. While expectations were, initially, that ‘Zombie Girl’ would merely forfeit a percentage of her purse and the bout would go on as a catchweight, UFC officials later announced that the fight had been removed from the event altogether.
“Hey guys, I’m here to let you know that my fight is off the card,” Silva wrote in a post to her Instagram account, suggesting that she turned down the catchweight. “Unfortunately, my opponent missed weight and it wouldn’t be fair, after I’ve done my work correctly, for me to just accept that kind of behavior.
“I appreciate all the support and love. We’re ready and waiting for another opponent.”
Cachoeira has missed weight before
UFC Vegas 71 isn’t the first time Priscila Cachoeira has had trouble on the scales. Back in 2021, the Brazilian missed the flyweight limit by three pounds, coming in at 129-pounds for her bout against Gillian Robertson. While that kind of miss is often seen as an advantage for the fighter who didn’t make weight, Robertson accepted the bout anyway—and won by first round rear-naked choke submission.
Following that miss, Cachoeira fought at flyweight successfully just a couple months later, defeating Kim Ji-yeon by unanimous decision on the undercard of UFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs. Green. Perhaps due to her weigh-in struggles, however, the 34-year-old’s next bout came up at 135-pounds, against Ariane Lipski, with Cachoeira taking home a first round knockout. Her fight against Silva was to mark her return back down to flyweight where she’s spent the bulk of her career.
One other weight miss at UFC Vegas 71
While Cachoeira vs. Silva represented the only fight cancellation on UFC Vegas 71 this week, there was one other fighter who didn’t make their agreed upon limit. Also on the undercard, William Gomis hit the scales at 147-pounds for his featherweight contest against Francis Marshall. That’s just one pound over, but Gomis apparently couldn’t cut any more weight, and decided to give up 20% of his purse to his opponent.
UFC Vegas 71 takes place at the Apex facility in Las Vegas, NV. The card is set to be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes. A middleweight fight between Brad Tavares and Bruno Silva is expected for the co-main event.
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