UFC 325 weigh-in results: One fighter caught cheating on scale

UFC featherweight legend Alexander Volkanovski was the primary Australian-born fighter to win a UFC title and the long run Corridor of Famer is ready for a homecoming this weekend at UFC 325.

Volkanovski will search for the sixth title defence of his UFC profession and his second win over Diego Lopes after they meet in a rematch Saturday at Qudos Financial institution Area in Sydney.

The 36-year-old received 18 consecutive fights en path to profitable the featherweight title in 2019. Volkanovski dominated over the division till 2024 when he misplaced the title to Ilia Topuria who later vacated the belt when he left the division.

Resulting from his dominance throughout his time as champion, the UFC chosen Volkanovski to compete for the vacant title after Topuria moved to light-weight final 12 months. Volkanovski grew to become the oldest 145-pound fighter to win a title when he defeated Lopes at UFC 314 final April of their first important occasion conflict.

Lopes rebounded with an emphatic win over Jean Silva because the UFC had Volkanovski wait on the sidelines till the group returned to his house nation. As an alternative of getting Volkanovski face an undefeated contender like Movsar Evloev or Lerone Murphy, the UFC booked a rematch with Lopes.

Earlier than the pair locks horns for a second time, they needed to efficiently make weight on Friday on the official UFC 325 weigh-in identical to the 26 different athletes set to compete on the cardboard.

Volkanovski and Lopes wanted to weigh not more than 145 kilos for his or her title battle to be made official, whereas all non-title opponents on the cardboard had been granted a one-pound allowance per normal.

The champ stepped on the scale with a half-pound to spare and the challenger got here in at a good 145 kilos to render their title rematch official.

One fighter did not make weight Friday and even tried to trick athletic fee officers earlier than ultimately being faraway from the cardboard.

Flyweight Aaron Tau was the ultimate athlete to step on the scale. Being the final fighter to weigh in is usually a sign a fighter has had issue attending to their contracted weight restrict.

When Tau, a 32-year-old from New Zealand, stepped on the scale to register his weight it initially learn 122.25 kilos. The restrict for a non-title flyweight bout is 126 kilos, so seeing Tau weigh in final but comfortably make weight with 4 kilos to spare brought on some confusion. 

At UFC weigh-ins there’s all the time a curtain accessible to defend athletes in case they should strip down nude to make weight. Tau was standing behind the scenes on his preliminary try and may very well be seen subtly resting his elbows on the black material, which might impression the accuracy of the load.

As soon as his weight was learn, Tau put his underwear again on and stepped again onto the scale to pose for cameras, nevertheless the fee then double checked his weight and requested him to weigh in once more with out the curtain and Tau rapidly weighed 129 kilos.

His opponent, Namsrai Batbayar, made the 126-pound restrict however he will be unable to compete at UFC 325 because of his opponent’s miss. The group formally cancelled the matchup, which was scheduled to open the early portion of the preliminary card.

Technically this contest was not a sanctioned UFC bout. As an alternative, Tau and Batbayar had been set to compete within the flyweight finals for Season 4 of Street to UFC, a tournament-style sequence that includes worldwide fighters who compete for a shot at profitable an official UFC contract, much like Dana White’s Contender Collection or The Final Fighter.

Tau is 11-1 as a professional together with his lone loss being a call on the Contender Collection in 2024, and this controversial weight miss actually doesn’t bode nicely for Tau’s future with the UFC.

Under are the official weigh-in outcomes for UFC 325:

— Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Diego Lopes (145)

— Dan Hooker (155.75) vs. Benoit Saint Denis (155.75)

— Rafael Fiziev (155.5) vs. Mauricio Ruffy (155.25)

— Tai Tuivasa (265.5) vs. Tallison Teixeira (259)

— Quillan Salkilld (155.5) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (155.5)

— Junior Tafa (205.25) vs. Billy Elekana (204)

— Cameron Rowston (184.5) vs. Cody Brundage (184.75)

— Jacob Malkoun (185.75) vs. Torrez Finney (185.75)

— Jonathan Micallef (170.25) vs. Oban Elliott (169.75)

— Kaan Ofli (145.25) vs. Yizha (145.5)

— Sangwook Kim (155.75) vs. Dom Mar Fan (154.75)**

— Keiichiro Nakamura (145.25) vs. Sebastian Szalay (145.75)**

— Sulangrangbo (135.75) vs. Lawrence Lui (135.25)**

— Aaron Tau (129*) vs. Namsrai Batbayar (126)**

*Fighter missed weight and bout has been cancelled

**Street to UFC match remaining matchup