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At least everyone made it to the scales okay for UFC 291 this Saturday. Headlined by a ‘BMF’ title fight between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, the headlining fighters didn’t have to come in at actual championship weight.
Dustin Poirier hit the mark, however, weighing in at 155 pounds, while Justin Gaethje made it to the scales at 156, making their fight official for the the pay-per-view main event. Others on the card were not so lucky.
Michel Pereira blows weight cut
Top ranked welterweight fighter Michel Pereira was the most notable name on the card to struggle on Friday morning. The Brazilian was all set for a high-profile action battle against former title contender Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, when he came in 3 pounds over the limit.
The situation was apparently bad enough that the UFC has had to go into extended negotiations with Thompson over his willingness to take a catchweight fight with Pereira.
At 40-years-old, Thompson is likely in a different spot than most notable talents facing an opponent struggling on the scales. ‘Wonderboy’ has already had a long career among the UFC’s elite, win or lose to Pereira on Friday, it’s unlikely he’ll be fighting for a title anytime soon. While the chance to negotiate with the UFC for a little extra cash to keep the fight on the card likely holds a lot more value. That said, Thompson hasn’t been talking like a man near the end of his career.
“I can’t believe people are saying that I’m old and I should retire,” Thompson said in a March interview. “I feel like people that do retire, when they sit down on the chair, they just feel like they should retire. Like just, their body’s beat up, aches and pains. … When I sit here and I’m sitting down in this chair, I feel great. I feel fine. I feel better than I was five years ago. I just don’t get it.”
Hopefully all sides can come to an agreement and Thompson and Pereira will still face off at UFC 291. For his part, the Upstate Karate standout hit the scales on point at 170.5 pounds.
UPDATE: Michel Pereira has not been medically cleared to fight. His UFC 291 bout with Stephen Thompson has been cancelled.
Vinicus Salvador misses flyweight
Pereira wasn’t the only Brazilian on Friday to miss weight big. Way down on the undercard, flyweight Vinicius Salvador had similar troubles with the scale, coming in at 128.5 pounds, 2.5 lbs over the 126 lb limit. Fortunately for Salvador, however, his oppponent CJ Vergara isn’t in nearly the same position of prominence as Thompson when it comes to on the spot negotiations.
Vergara has already agreed to a catchweight bout, and will receive 20% Salvardor’s show money as compensation for his opponent’s error. Speaking on Twitter, Salvador’s manager told fans that their team did everything they could to make weight, and apologized for the error.
Complete UFC 291 weigh-in results
- Dustin Poirier (155) vs. Justin Gaethje (156)
- Jan Blachowicz (205) vs. Alex Pereira (205.5)
- Michel Pereira (174) vs. Stephen Thompson (170.5)
- Tony Ferguson (155) vs. Bobby Green (155.5)
- Michael Chiesa (170) vs. Kevin Holland (169.5)
- Gabriel Bonfim (170) vs. Trevin Giles (170)
- Derrick Lewis (263.5) vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (262)
- Roman Kopylov (185) vs. Claudio Ribeiro (185.5)
- Darrius Flowers (170.5) vs. Jake Matthews (170)
- Vinicius Salvador (128.5) vs. CJ Vergara (125.5)
- Uros Medic (170.5) vs. Matthew Semelsberger (169.5)
- Priscila Cachoeira (125) vs. Miranda Maverick (125.5)