UFC 298 weigh-in results: Alexander Volkanovski, Ilia Topuria on point, late change to fight card
Alexander Volkanovski is back at featherweight and ready to defend his title again.
The reigning champion successfully hit the scale at Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC 298, coming in at 144.5 pounds. Undefeated challenger Ilia Topuria also weighed in at 144.5 pounds, bringing them both one step closer to clashing inside the octagon.
All 10 main card participants made weight, including middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, rivals Geoff Neal and Ian Machado Garry, and No. 1 bantamweight contender candidates Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo.
If there was any drama, it came from the preliminary portion of the card, which saw a last-second switch-up in a heavyweight bout when Marcos Rogerio de Lima lost scheduled opponent Justin Tafa to injury. Fortunately for de Lima, Justin’s brother Junior was on hand to accept the bout and the two successfully weighed in near the end of the two-hour official weigh-in window.
The majority of Saturday’s competitors weighed in within the first 30 minutes, with the lone exception being Mackenzie Dern. The strawweight—who accepted a bout with Amanda Lemos on a little over a month’s notice as a replacement for Tatiana Suarez—did not arrive until there were less than 15 minutes remaining in the window, but she showed up bursting with energy and hit the mark at 116 pounds (including the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight).
See the official UFC 298 weigh-in results below.
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET)
Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (144.5)
Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Paulo Costa (185.5)
Ian Machado Garry (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (170.5)
Henry Cejudo (135) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (135)
Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)
Preliminary Card (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+)
Mackenzie Dern (116) vs. Amanda Lemos (115.5)
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa — fight canceled
Marcos Rogerio de Lima (261.5) vs. Junior Tafa (249)
Rinya Nakamura (135.5) vs. Carlos Vera (135.5)
Zhang Mingyang (204.5) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205.5)
Early Prelims (6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
Josh Quinlan (169) vs. Danny Barlow (171)
Oban Elliott (170.5) vs. Val Woodburn (169.5)
Andrea Lee (125.5) vs. Miranda Maverick (126)