LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie was on scene and reporting live from Friday’s official UFC on ESPN 49 fighter weigh-ins, where all 26 fighters on the card hit their marks.
In the main event, former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (15-6 MMA, 8-6 UFC) takes on Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC). Silva was the first to come to the scale and needed the towel, but hit 136 pounds. Holm weighed in several minutes later and was 135.5 to make their title contenders fight official.
The co-feature came together with less than a week’s notice. Welterweight rising star Jack Della Maddalena (14-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) lost his opponent late in fight week for UFC 290, but stayed in Las Vegas hoping a short-notice opponent might be found. That opponent is Bassil Hafez (8-3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC). Hafez and Maddalena were the final two fighters to come to the scale in the two-hour window. Maddalena came about an hour into the session and was 171. Hafez was the last fighter to weight in and came in at 171.5 pounds. He was given an additional hour to cut a half-pound and made weight about 25 minutes into that extra hour.
The weigh-ins took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The same venue hosts Saturday’s event, which airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN 49 weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)
- Holly Holm (135.5) vs. Mayra Bueno Silva (136)
- Bassil Hafez (171)* vs. Jack Della Maddalena (171)
- Ottman Azaitar (156) vs. Francisco Prado (156)
- Albert Duraev (185) vs. Junyong Park (186)
- Chelsea Chandler (145.5) vs. Norma Dumont (145.5)
- Terrance McKinney (156) vs. Nazim Sadykhov (156)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Melsik Baghdasaryan (145.5) vs. Tucker Lutz (146)
- Viktoriya Dudakova (116) vs. Istela Nunes (115.5)
- Melquizael Costa (146) vs. Austin Lingo (145.5)
- Evan Elder (156) vs. Genaro Valdez (156)
- Azat Maksum (126) vs. Tyson Nam (126)
- Carl Deaton (156) vs. Alexander Munoz (155.5)
- Ashlee Evans-Smith (135.5) vs. Ailin Perez (135.5)
*Hafez missed the welterweight limit on his first attempt, but was given one hour to cut an additional half-pound and made weight on his second try.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 49.
